Transport VI left the Radegast station at 7 A.M. on May 9, 1942. This was the sixtieth transport of Jews from Łódź to Chełmno since the deportations began in January 1942. There were 952 Jews on the train,[1] some of whom had been sent to the Łódź ghetto from Berlin and Vienna in 1941.
As with previous transports, many of those slated for deportation applied for exemption. There were some who requested a deferral so that they could be deported together with their loved ones, family, friends, or roommates some days later.[2] Archival sources indicate that at least three applicants for exemption cited their military service in the World War I: these requests were not approved.[3] Two such applicants were also members of the Jewish police: Arthur Sonnenfeld (b. 1.5.1881) and Mieczyslaw Rosenstock (b. 29.8.1917).[4]
Separate lists of persons who were "exempted from the VI transport"[5] record the names of 278 individuals. Approximately 140 of these were designated for subsequent transports; eighty-five for the transport scheduled to leave the following day, May 10, 1942. Another forty-two individuals were detained in the assembly area in Marysin and considered as "Überkontingent," i.e., reserves for future transports. They may have been among the eighty "fortunate" people released on May 15.[6] Another two individuals who received an exemption died before the transport left: Hans Guttmann (b. 14.12.1891)[7] and Johanna Berg (b. 25.8.1887).[8] The chief of the Jewish police noted on May 8 that Johanna Berg was in no condition to be deported.[9]...