Transport from Znin, Znin, Poznan, Poland to Gniezno, Gniezno, Poznan, Poland on 10/1939

Shortly after the annexation of Poland, the German authorities began to expel and deport thousands of Poles and Jews from Regierunsbezirk Posen (administrative district) and the northwest area of Regierunsbezirk Hohensalza to the General Government (Generalgouvernement, the zone of Nazi-occupied central Poland not formally annexed to the Reich).^[1] The Landkreise (counties) that were affected included Dietfurt (Żnin), Gnesen (Gniezno), Eichenbrück (Wągrowiec), and Schubin (Szubin, Altburgund).^[2] In those areas, former POW camps were transformed into transit camps; they were able to receive deportees from the beginning of November 1939.^[3] Research suggests that the Landräte (county commissioners) initiated the expulsion of Jews from their counties and took an active role in the deportations of Jews and Poles.^[4]

In 1939, the town of Żnin had a population of approximately 5,100. It was annexed by Germany on October 26, 1939, becoming part of Landkreis Dietfurt, a county whose total population was estimated by the Nazis in 1939 as 41,500, of whom thirty-three were Jews.^[5]

In October 1939 almost all of the Jews in Landkreis Dietfurt, numbering according to sources approximately twenty people, were concentrated in the city of Żnin, in a building located on Pocztowa St. A few days later, they were taken by trucks to Gniezno.^[6]...