Transport from Bilgoraj, Bilgoraj, Lublin, Poland to Goraj, Bilgoraj, Lublin, Poland on 06/04/1941

Biłgoraj County is located in today’s Lublin Province, in southeastern Poland. Before World War II, it was a typically agricultural region with a poor road infrastructure. In 1931, the county had a Jewish population of 12,938. When the Germans occupied Poland in September 1939, the county’s boundaries were changed, increasing the Jewish population to around 16,000. The town of Biłgoraj had 5,010 Jewish inhabitants at this time.
From mid-October 1939, the town of Biłgoraj became the administrative center of the Nazi authorities in the county. Over the next three years, the Kreishauptmann (county governors)—Dr. Werner Ansel (October 26, 1939–March 31,1942) and Hans Augustin (April 1–December 1,1942)—bore partial responsibility for planning and organizing the deportations in the district.
In November 1939, the German administration established a Judenrat with Haim-Mordechaj Hirszenhorn as its chairman. In anticipation of the arrival of the Wehrmacht (the German army) and the Luftwaffe (the German Air force) forces in advance of the invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Ansel ordered that the Biłgoraj Jewish population be reduced in order to accommodate German troops. The German authorities demanded that the Judenrat provide a list of the names of families who would be deported from the town. The Judenrat refused and the town mayor provided the list. ...