May 10, 1942, a seventh transport of "Western Jews" who had previously been sent to the Łódź ghetto departed for the Chełmno (Kulmhof) death camp. According to the documents from the ghetto's Jewish self-administration archive, the transport included 950 deportees.[1] However, an invoice submitted by the Reichsbahn Verkehrsamt (Transportation Authority of the German national railway) to the Gestapo Litzmannstadt for the transport notes the higher figure of 1,005 Jewish deportees. The total cost for this transport was 3,073.95 reichsmarks, including the fare for thirteen guards from the Schupo (Schutzpolizei—uniformed regular police force) who travelled in the only second-class wagon of the train as far as Koło—where they were replaced by other guards—and their return trip from Koło to Widzew.[2]
In contrast to the first transports in May, which left in freezing temperatures, sometimes snow, on May 10 the sun shone and temperatures climbed up to 28 °C. Rumours regarding the destination of the deportation continued to spread amongst the ghetto's population and the food market was in a state of chaos, with prices skyrocketing.[3] Between May 10 and 14, the hunger in the ghetto became acute, as Oskar Rosenfeld, the Austrian-Jewish writer, noted in his diary.[4] As with the previous transport, The Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto noted that on this transport too deportees were allowed to keep a small amount of luggage, smaller backpacks, and bags containing food. Large pieces of luggage were still forbidden.[5]
Deportation lists for this transport have not been found. However, with the help of other sources, for example Lodz Names. List of the Ghetto Inhabitants 1940–1944, it is possible to identify individual deportees. Among the Jews deported on May 10 were Irene Reiner (b. 10.1.1896) and her fourteen-year-old daughter Edith (b. 21.6.1927), probably originally from Vienna.[6] Both their names appear on a list of those exempted from transport IV, with the remark "Überkontingent" (Jews who exceeded the stipulated number of deportees and whose transport was postponed).[7]...