Transport from Szczebrzeszyn, Zamosc, Lublin, Poland to Belzec, Extermination Camp, Poland on 05/1942

At the outbreak of World War II, there were 2,964 Jews living in Szczebrzeszyn, a town near the eastern border of Biłgoraj County in the Lublin District. The German army entered the town on September 13, 1939, and, after their withdrawal, followed by the entry and withdrawal of the Red Army, the Germans returned to the town on October 9, 1939. Many Jews fled eastward from Szczebrzeszyn around this time, across the River Bug (the boundary established in the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact). Those who remained were subjected to abuse, violence, forced labor, and theft. The local gendarmerie post was commanded by Richard Doerbandt and Gustav Pritsching. The SCHUPO (Schutzpolizei) also maintained a post in Szczebrzeszyn; names of some of the German policemen were provided in testimonies of local Poles. Both the gendarmerie and the SCHUPO participated in deportations of Jews. The Germans appointed a six-person Judenrat at the beginning of 1940 ; the Jewish police force was not established until some time later, on April 23, 1942. Jews from the neighboring towns of Frampol and Janów, which were severely damaged in bombardments, and Jewish refugees from Włocławek and Łódź arrived in Szczebrzeszyn during 1939 and 1940. According to the American Jewish Distribution Committee (the Joint), on March 14, 1940, there were 324 refugees. ...