Transport XIX from Lodz, Ghetto, Poland to Chelmno, Extermination Camp, Poland on 12/03/1942

March was a cold month, with temperatures dropping to -15°C, sometimes even -20°C. The mortality rate in the ghetto (2,224 deaths) was higher than it had been in the previous months, with suicides occurring almost every other day. On March 12, At 4 P.M., a forty-eight-year-old woman (D.R.) from Piotrków hanged herself in her flat on Brzezińska 61. The body of another woman, who had been shot, was found just outside the ghetto fence on Ogrodowa St. Her identity was unknown.

The deportees assigned to Transport No. XIX received the summonses on March 8 or 9, 1942. They were instructed to assemble and register at 7 Szklana St., near the ghetto's central prison, which was located at 6 Czarnieckiego St. They were then held for two to three days in a building adjacent to the central prison; at 8 Dr Jonschera (Bertramstrasse) in the Marysin area; or in a school building at 25 Młynarska St. On the day of their transport, they would walk to the Radegast train station. Those unable to walk were taken by cart. ...