Transport from Wloclawek, Wloclawek, Warszawa, Poland to Zamosc, Zamosc, Lublin, Poland on 16/12/1939

At the outbreak of the war, a wave of Polish and Jewish refugees left the city. This exodus continued during the first deportations. In most cases, the refugees took few belongings with them. Their remaining possessions were subsequently seized by the Germans. In October and November 1939, the Jewish refugees reached nearby places such as Kutno and Zychlin, some getting as far as Warsaw and Lublin. The city of Włocławek was conquered on September 14, 1939, and the persecution of Jews began immediately. Jews were arrested and shot; two synagogues were burned. From October 25, 1939, Jews were forced to wear a yellow badge. After its annexation into the Reich, the Germans renamed the city Leslau and placed number of people in official positions: SS-Sturmbannführer Hans Cramer was appointed mayor, SA-Sturmbannführer Elliot Hesemeyer became his deputy, and the Volksdeutsche Max Dunkhorst was made “advisor for Jewish affairs.” All three were responsible for the persecution and deportations of the Jews from the city. Dr. Hans Burkhardt was appointed head of the Hohensalza (Inowrocław) Regierungsbezirk (administrative district). As part of the "Nahplan", (short-term plan), the first three deportations of Jews from Włocławek took place between December 2, 1939 and mid-February 1940. The destinations included Ożarów, Zamość, Włoszczowa, Szczebrzeszyn, and Tarnów. On December 16, 1939, a transport with 550–659 Jews and an unknown number of Poles left Włocławek to Zamość and Szczebrzeszyn in the Lublin district. In a letter from the police chief (Polizeidirektor) in Włocławek to the Gestapo in Hohensalza (Inowrocław) dated April 23, 1940 the procedures for the “Evacuation” (Evakuierungen, the Nazi euphemism for deportation) were given. The Gestapo and the mayor (Oberbürgermeister) drew up lists of individuals designated for deportation. The decrees sent to the families were signed by the mayor or his representative. The Schutzpolizei (or Schupo, regular uniformed police force) was responsible for carrying out the deportations. In the same letter however, the Polizeidirektor complained about the lack of clarity regarding the division of labor between the Gestapo and the mayor. Another organization involved in the deportations was the UWZ (Umwandererzentralstelle, Central Resettlement Office), the head of which was SS-Hauptsturmführer Wassermann, who was assisted by Kurt Tollkühn. The transport departed on December 16, 1939. In a report sent by Hesemeyer, the local driving force behind the deportations from Włocławek, to SS-Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Koppe, the Higher SS- and Police-leader (HSSPF, Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer) in Poznań (Posen), Hesemeyer writes that the county’s registration of individuals for deportation was chaotic, and therefore in the future a notice must be delivered four–five days in advance. Koppe wrote Cramer that he, as mayor, should appoint a police commando escort (Begleitkommando). During the first "Nahplan" the passenger train was guarded by seven policemen and twenty Selbstschutz (the paramilitary Nazi group of ethnic Germans subordinated to the local SS and police) men. After the deportations, the transport commanders were expected to fill out a questionnaire, providing more details regarding the transport; however, no questionnaire is available from this transport. The deportees were permitted to take only 50 zlotys and a small package weighing less than a kilogram with them. The deportation list has been preserved and contains the deportees’ personal information: name, place and date of birth, profession, and home address, as well as the names of family members who were also deported. In total, there were 659 deportees from 214 families. However, the list does not include the names of the deportees' wives or children under age sixteen. The oldest deportees—Gołde Wałachowicz and Abram Jakob Szydłowski—were eighty-five years old when deported. There were thirty people aged sixty-five and above. The youngest deportee listed was seventeen-year-old Samek Gotlieb. The train consisted of sealed freight cars. According to the postwar accounts of Mieczysław Garfinkel (b. 1898), one of the Judenrat members in Zamość, the deportees did not receive food or water on the journey. The train stopped in Zamość, where most of the Jewish deportees—many of them able-bodied men—disembarked. The rest of the deportees, a group of 180 Jews, who were mostly elderly, women, and children, were transported further, reaching Szczebrzeszyn during the night between December 18 and 19, 1939. After this deportation, approximately 5,000 Jews remained in Włocławek. There are no known survivors from this transport. On March 10, 1940, Dora Bornstein, one of the deportees, sent a postcard to Warsaw: We are from Włocławek; we had a leather storehouse on May 3rd St.—Lipman Bornstein. We were deported from Włocławek to Zamość three months ago. My brother, Mendel Bornstein, is ill; he was in a hospital and must be well fed, and since all of our food is already gone, I turn to you with a request for help. You can get information about us from your father or sister, Sosnowska, or from Szmul Winter from Włocławek. I am a corset maker, but I cannot make a living here. Unfortunately I am very sorry [to have to turn to you for help] but we have no way out, so I believe you will do this for us. Sincerely, Bornstein