Transport from Ozorkow, Ghetto, Poland to Lodz, Ghetto, Poland on 21/08/1942

At the beginning of the Second World War, German troops occupied the western Polish district of Łęczyca. The district was initially part of the General Government (Generalgouvernement, the zone of Nazi-occupied central Poland not formally annexed to the Reich). Fierce battles over Ozorków took place in September 1939 and the city was conquered on September 5 or 7, 1939, during which many residents were shot to death. The Germans burnt down the synagogue and Beis Midrash on the following days. Following the occupation, the Germans began to hunt for Jews and sent them to harsh labor – among other things, to bury the many bodies around the city. On November 20, 1939, the district was connected to the German Reich under the Landkreis (district) Lentschütz, which later became part of the Landkreis of Kalisch (and from 1941 part of the district of Litzmannstadt).The seat of the German District Office was the city of Ozorków, which was renamed Brunnstadt. In 1939, Ozorkow had about 15,000 inhabitants including just over 5,000 Jews. Jews from other towns— among them Kalisz and Zgierz— arrived in Ozorków soon after the occupation. The Germans ordered that a Judenrat be set up and Shimon Barczinski, a Zionist activist from the pre-war years, was appointed as the chairman. At the end of 1939, the Jews were evacuated from the main streets of the town and from the best homes. They were ordered to move to the alleyways that were assigned for them, and were not allowed to take anything with them. By the summer of 1941 an open ghetto had been established, which contained about half of the Jews in Ozorków, while the others continued to live elsewhere in the town....