Transport from Lodz, Ghetto, Poland to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp, Poland on 19/08/1944

Of the 206,000 Jews who inhabited the Łódź (Litzmannstadt) Ghetto prior to August 1, 1944, only 68,516 remained on that date—40,023 females and 28,493 males, including 4,635 children.^[1] By the end of August, the ghetto had been liquidated and almost the entire remaining population deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau where they were murdered.

Despite extensive research, it is not always possible to cite full and accurate transport dates for this phase of the massive deportations, which may indeed have spilled over into September. Nazi Germany’s approaching defeat and the concomitant chaos during the final months of the ghetto’s existence powerfully impacted the records kept by both the Germans and the Jews.^[2] Even though the Judenrat’s statistical department kept records until August 21, the first deportations that month, which began more than two weeks earlier, were listed only retroactively, in the records for August 18-21. Deportations were listed for August 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 13, comprising a total of 12,400 souls.^[3] However, our research indicates that the first two transports that month left the ghetto as early as August 4 and 5, and it is unclear whether the statistical department listed different dates by mistake or intentionally.^[4]

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