Transport from Zelow, Ghetto, Poland to Chelmno, Extermination Camp, Poland on 13/06/1942

Zelów (Łask County), situated some 50 kilometers southwest of Łódź, was occupied on September 6, 1939. Following the occupation, the Jews faced violence from the Germans and from local ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche);^[1] they were constantly under threat of being abducted from the streets and sent for slave labor.^[2] Nevertheless, according to survivors, Zelów had a reputation as a “quiet” spot.^[3] Thus many Jews from neighboring places sought refuge in the village; others were being resettled there, from, for example, the village of Wieluń.^[4] As a result, by December 1940, the Jewish population in Zelów increased to approximately 4,500 people, including 2,300 refugees,^[5] and by March 1941 between 6,000 and 7,000 Jews were reported to be living there.^[6] In the second half of 1941, all Jews living in the town were herded into an open ghetto.^[7]

According to Noma Futerman, the Jews in Zelów heard about black gas vans in December 1941 from deportees who had escaped Koło.^[8] From that moment on, the atmosphere in Zelów changed; many began to think about escaping. Noma Futerman herself fled on March 21, 1942, first to the General Government and then to Warsaw.^[9] Similar to other Wartheland townlets, the deportations from Zelów were preceded by public executions.^[10] The last available figure of Jews living in Zelów—recorded on March 21, 1942, before the ghetto’s liquidation—was approximately 4,110 souls.^[11]

According to an eyewitness account given by Mr. Tondewik, who testified in 1947 before the Central Historical Commission of the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in the U.S. Zone, on May 16, 1942 the SS ordered that 100 “volunteers” appear for deportation. They threatened that if no volunteers came forward all of Zelów’s Jews would be deported. Nevertheless, only eighty Jews appeared for registration. Tondewik stated that the planned deportation was delayed until August 11, 1942.^[12] The demand for volunteers in May may have been connected to the ongoing need for slave labor....