Transport X from Lodz, Ghetto, Poland to Chelmno, Extermination Camp, Poland on 03/03/1942

According to a statement of costs — sent by the Reichsbahn Verkehrsamt (German National Railway – Transportation Authority) to the Gestapo in Litzmannstadt on March 23, 1942 — “Transport X,” which left in the morning of March 3, 1942, shows 502 Jews as having been removed from the ghetto.

The train, marked as "Pj-Zug" (German abbreviation for “Polnischer Judenzug,” a "train with Polish Jews") and "Transport X," also had 13 policemen on board; they were guards from the Schupo (Schutzpolizei, the uniformed regular local German police force), who were added to the transportation costs. The Reichsbahn invoiced 2.80 reichsmarks per person for the 140-km journey from Łódź to Kolo. For the total of 515 passengers (502 Jews, plus 13 Schupo police), the bill to the Gestapo for Transport X was 1,442 reichsmarks. The Gestapo checked the invoice and approved it on March 27, 1942, but handed it over to Hans Biebow, the chief of the Nazi administration of the Łódź ghetto who managed a special account (“Sonderkonto 12300”) on behalf of Arthur Greiser, the governor of the Wartheland. All revenue from the so-called evacuation actions — in other words, the money that was “earned” from plundered and confiscated Jewish property — was deposited into this account. Biebow subsequently used this account to pay the costs associated with the murder actions, including the bill of the Reichsbahn for Transport X....