Wave of Deportation from Lodz(Gypsy Camp), Ghetto, Poland to Chelmno, Extermination Camp, Poland on 01/01/1942

On December 5, 1941, after a typhus epidemic (typhus exanthematicus)^[1] had rapidly spiraled out of control,^[2] Reichsstatthalter Arthur Greiser, the governor of the Wartheland, ordered the deportration of all Roma from the “Zigeunerlager” (Gypsy camp) in the Łódź ghetto who contracted the disease.^[3] The deportation likely started at the same day or even one day earlier, on December 4.^[4] By the end of December, about 2,800 out of the original 5,000 Roma had been deported, most of them to Chełmno death camp. During that same period, another 613 Roma died within the camp^[5] from typhus and other diseases. Thus, roughly a third of the original number of Roma remained. This steep decrease is in line with the entry in the Chronicle of the Łódź Ghetto dated January 1- 5, 1942, stating that the “Gypsy camp” was already “practically deserted” and would “no doubt be entirely eliminated by the end of this week.”^[6]

At some point, Greiser must have decided to dispose of all the Roma and not only the sick. The historian Antoni Galinski stated that the infection and death of German police officers, among them the “Gypsy camp” commander, SS-Oberscharführer Eugen Jansen on December 23, triggered “most likely … the immediate decision to completely liquidate the inmates in the camp.”^[7] However, the exact date for the updated liquidation order is not known.

Our research pointed to a large number of deportations in December 1941.^[8] More deportations followed in January 1942, which may be divided into three phases: January 1- 6, January 7-12, January 13-24.^[9] The following account covers the first phase, January 1-6, 1942....