Transport XV from Lodz, Ghetto, Poland to Chelmno, Extermination Camp, Poland on 08/03/1942

The details of each March Transport, including the number of deportees, the number of guards, and the costs, can be found in a document dated March 23, 1942, which was sent by the Reichsbahn Verkehrsamt (Transportation Authority of the German national railway) to the Gestapo Litzmannstadt. Each train was marked as "Pj-Zug" (German abbreviation for “Polnischer Judenzug,” a "train with Polish Jews") followed by the word "Transport" and a Roman numeral. Each train had thirteen policemen on board; they were guards from the Schupo (Schutzpolizei, the uniformed regular local German police force). The fare for the guards was added to the transportation costs. The Reichsbahn charged 2.80 reichsmarks per person for the 140 km journey from Łódź to Koło. It added the cost of 4 reichspfennigs per kilometer (in total 5.60 reichsmarks per person) for each guard for the return trip, thus invoicing an additional 72.80 reichsmarks in total. The return trip was considerably more expensive because the German railway company did not apply the discount given for the mass deportations. The Gestapo approved the invoice on March 27, 1942, and sent it to Hans Biebow, the chief of the Nazi administration of the Łódź ghetto. He managed a special bank account (“Sonderkonto 12300”) on behalf of Arthur Greiser, the governor of the Wartheland, which was used as a deposit account for all revenue accrued from the so-called evacuation actions—money amassed from plundered and confiscated Jewish property. Biebow subsequently used this account to pay the costs associated with the deportation and murder of the Jews, including the Reichsbahn bill for each Transport....