On May 11, 1942, the eighth transport of "Western Jews" who had previously been deported to the Łódź ghetto left for the Chełmno death camp (Kulmhof). The transport included 949 Western European Jews. This figure, which can be found in the documents from the ghetto's Jewish self-administration archive,[1] also appears on an invoice submitted for the transport by the Reichsbahn Verkehrsamt (Transportation Authority of the German national railway) to the Gestapo Litzmannstadt. According to the Reichsbahn, the total cost for this transport was 2,908.75 reichsmarks, including the fare for thirteen 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]
Among the deportees were Peter (b. 9.6.1929) and Erwin (b. 18.12.1932) Kopf, presumably brothers. Their deportation orders are preserved at the Archiwum Państwowe w Łodzi (National Polish Archive).[3] Erwin Kopf received notice on May 7, only two days before the assembly date recorded on the summons, due to the change in his address.[4] The two boys had been deported from Hamburg and, according to Lodz Names. List of the Ghetto Inhabitants 1940–1944, their mother Betty (b. 21.6.1891) died in the ghetto on April 12, 1942.[5]
Deportation lists for this transport have not been found. However, a list of the inhabitants living at 70 Brzezińska St. (Sulzfelder) includes the names of some of the Jews deported from this building on transport VIII, which left on May 11. Among them was the Engelman family, originally from Prague: Zendik Engelman (b. 10.1.1890), by profession a pharmacist, his wife Elly (b. 27.6.1898), listed as a housewife, and their two children, eighteen year old Vera, who worked in the ghetto as a seamstress, and twelve year old Sonja, a student. The list records the family's deportation numbers as 95–98.[6] Likewise, members of the Bachrach family, Ernst (b. 12.9.1887) and Margarete (b. 5.2.1895, née Oppenheimer), are also listed as deportees from the same building on the transport which left on May 11....