Transport from Lodz, Ghetto, Poland to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp, Poland on 18/08/1944

On Friday, August 18, 1944, Jakub Poznański, an inmate of the Łódź ghetto, wrote in his diary: On Thursday [August 17] at around 12 noon, posters signed by the Gestapo were pasted on the walls of the ghetto, stating that as of that day the ghetto was being reduced in size and that the following areas were excluded: Wolborska Street, Nad Łódką, Stary Rynek, Zgierska, Kościelny Square, Bałucki Square, Zgierska Street until Dolna Street, Dolna Street until Łagiewnicka, Łagiewnicka through Bałucki Square until Kościelny Square, Brzezińska until Franciszkańska Street, Franciszkańska until Smugowa Street – on both sides – until the barbed wire. Anyone crossing the threshold of this area from Friday 18 [August], will be punished by death. People wept and lamented [this turn of events]. Those in hiding were afraid to come out, because an akcja [Ger. Aktion] was being conducted at the same time and it was easy to fall into the hands of the German police. But after dark a huge procession began of those who must, after four and a half years, leave their apartments again, leave their beds, and take with whatever they can carry. As dawn broke, more people joined the trek. We heard that most of those who left their homes now voluntarily went to Czarnieckiego Street or to Krawiecka Street to register for the evacuation transports, having taken Rumkowski’s [Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, the Chairman of the Jewish ghetto administration] advice [to do so]. ...