The first deportation of Western European Jews from the Łódź ghetto to the Chełmno (Kulmhof) death camp took place on May 4, 1942. According to the documents from the ghetto's Jewish self-administration archive, there were 1,002 deportees on this transport.[1] However, an invoice for the transport submitted by the Reichsbahn Verkehrsamt (Transportation Authority of the German national railway) to the Gestapo Litzmannstadt notes the slightly higher figure of 1,008 Jewish deportees, which seems more likely. The Reichsbahn receipt also states that the total cost for the transport was 3,074.40 reichsmarks included the fare for twelve guards from the Schupo (Schutzpolizei—uniformed regular police force) in the only second-class passenger wagon as far Koło—where other guards took over—and their return trip from Koło to Widzew.[2]
The Jews in the Łódź ghetto were shocked by the announcement that deportations were to resume, after a break of one month. Rumors in the ghetto regarding the destination of the deportation were accompanied by speculations as to which group of Jews from Western Europe would be deported and when.[3] According to Oskar Singer, one of the chronicler of the ghetto, the German Jews were deported first, and the first transport was composed mainly of Jews from Düsseldorf and Cologne (Köln). Food prices among the starving ghetto population skyrocketed prior to the transport, as the Jews facing deportation tried to exchange their last belongings for something to eat.[4]
While some Jews facing transport desperately wanted to leave the ghetto, others volunteered for deportation because they did not want to be separated from their loved ones. One example of the latter is Julie S. (b. 1893) from Berlin who, on April 30, submitted a request to the Aussiedlungskommission (deportation commission) asking to join her sister, Regina S.: "I am completely alone, widowed here, and kindly ask to leave together with my sister."[5] According to Lodz Names. List of the Ghetto Inhabitants 1940–1944, forty-five -year-old Regina was deported to Chełmno on May 13.[6] Others sought to obtain exemption from the transport. The names of those who succeeded in doing so can be found in the archival material of the Deportation Commission.[7]...