Transport from Szadek, Ghetto, Poland to Chelmno, Extermination Camp, Poland on 14/08/1942

Approximately 30,000 Jews lived in Sieradz County at the outbreak of the war; in the town of Szadek, there were some 440 Jews, making up 13.7 percent of the general population. The ghetto in Szadek was established in late May and early June 1940 on Wilamowska Street and part of Prusinowska Street. The ghetto was not fenced in, but it was guarded by the German gendarmes. A roll call took place every morning and the residents were forced to work in town. The Jewish residents of Szadek suffered from hunger, ill treatment, daily forced labor, and overcrowding. On June 22, 1940, the head of the Judenrat in Szadek, Chaim Most, sent a letter to the American Joint Distribution Committee in Warsaw, explaining the grim state of the Szadek community: "A few weeks ago we were moved to another part of town and because our links with the outside village have been cut off we have no way of supporting ourselves and find ourselves in a very difficult situation.… We are 110 Jewish families and some of us have no provisions. We request one-off help."

In 1941, fifty Jewish men were deported to the Rawicz labor camp near Poznań. ...