Transport from Rejowiec, Chelm, Lublin, Poland to Las Osowica, forest, Murder Site, Poland on 10/1942

Rejowiec, a town some 55 kilometers east of Lublin, in the Chełm County of the Lublin District, was home to 2,500-2,600 Jews on the eve of World War II.^[1]

The Wehrmacht occupied the town in September 1939, after a brief interlude of Soviet rule.^[2]  Between April 1 and December 1942, Dr. Warner Ansel was the County Governor, and he provided logistic support during the deportations.^[3]

The first deportation from Rejowiec to a death camp, most likely to Sobibor, took place on April 7, 1942, and it resulted in more than 2,000 people being sent to their deaths.^[4] A smaller group of some 400-500 Jews was sent to the Krychów Wasserwirtschaft (water management) labor camp on April 8.^[5] Some 400 Jews managed to stay in the town, either by hiding or by being classified as "useful" laborers.^[6] On April 16, 18, and 20, a total of more than 3,000 Jewish deportees arrived in Rejowiec from Slovakia and Theresienstadt, followed by 1,000 deportees from Wrocław and Lipnik on May 5, and another 3,000 Slovak Jews on May 23, 24, and 25.^[7] Most of these Jews were deported from Rejowiec to the Sobibor death camp in at least one deportation that took place on August 9.^[8]...