Transport from Pabianice, Ghetto, Poland to Lodz, Ghetto, Poland on 10/08/1942

The town of Pabianice is situated in Łask county. Upon the invasion of Poland and the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, the Wehrmacht occupied Łask county, which was subsequently annexed by Nazi Germany and administered as a province in the Wartheland (Wartegau). In February 1940, the Germans established a ghetto for the Jewish inhabitants in the old town of Pabianice. In his work concerning the ghetto, survivor Leon Urbach notes that 8083 Jews were crowded into the ghetto: 3736 men and 4347 women.^[1] 

In the first deportation from Pabianice, on May 23, 1941, 231 young men were sent to the Łódź ghetto and from there to labor camps. Deportations to the Łódź ghetto and labor camps continued during 1941 and 1942. From February 1942, following the decisions made at the Wannsee Conference one month earlier, the policy towards ghettos shifted.^[2] Rather than completely liquidating these smaller communities, it was decided that selections would be conducted, singling out those Jews deemed fit for labor. Thus, in February 1942, prior to the liquidation of the ghetto—which was planned for May of that year—the Gestapo ordered that all ghetto inhabitants undergo a medical examination. During this process, the naked Jews were examined and subsequently divided. Those considered able-bodied were marked with an "A," while those considered unfit for work were labelled "B." Before liquidating the ghetto, the Germans shot 150 patients from the ghetto hospital. Testimonies also report that the sick were thrown from the hospital windows.^[3]  

On May 16, 1942, the ghetto was surrounded by Schutzpolizei, Kriminalpolizei, and Gestapo units. On May 17th and 18th Jews who were marked with "A" (arbeitsfaehig) were deported on two transports to the Lodz ghetto and the rest marked with "B" were deported to the death camp of Chelmno.^[4]...