Transport from Sluzewo, Aleksandrow Kujawski, Warszawa, Poland to Chelmno, Extermination Camp, Poland on 22/04/1942

Służewo was a town with a population of approximately 1,500 in 1939. It was annexed by the Germans on October 26, 1939, and it became part of the Landkreis Nessau (Nieszawa County), which was renamed Hermannsbad (Ciechocinek) in 1940.^[1] Germans records indicate that almost 4,000 Jews lived in the county,^[2] 252–600 of them in Służewo.^[3] By January 1940, most of the Jews had been expelled, with some deported to the General Government (Generalgouvernement, the zone of Nazi-occupied central Poland not formally annexed to the Reich).^[4] Various sources report that between 1,530 and 2,188 Jews were left in the county in June 1940, over 100 of them in Służewo.^[5] In autumn 1940, a ghetto was established in Służewo.^[6] In the spring of 1941, dozens of young Jews were deported from Służewo to a labor camp in Janików (Amsee),^[7] and during the fall of 1941 many of the Jews from Służewo were taken periodically to harvest crops.^[8]

A report written on March 27, 1942 by the Gendarmerie Department in Radziejów notes that the Jews in the county anticipated their imminent deportation:

Recently, about 100 Jews from these three locations fled, primarily to Upper Silesia (Kłobuck), for fear of the impending resettlement (extermination). In general, there is quite a stir among the existing Jews, since everybody suspects that the destruction is imminent. Rumors to that effect spread among Jews after they learned with certainty from unknown sources in those counties [Landkreise] in which similar operations had occurred [in the Jewish communities] (Warthbrücken and Kutno).^[9]...