Transport A, Train Da 2 from Praha, Praha Hlavni Mesto, Bohemia, Czechoslovakia to Lodz, Ghetto, Poland on 16/10/1941

Much of the information regarding the detailed processing of the five transports is still missing. It is likely that the Zentralstelle ordered the Jewish community, as early as October 10, to organize Transport A for October 16. According to Theresienstadt survivor, Rabbi Dr Richard Feder of Kolin, in his post-war monograph Židovská tragédie -The Jewish Tragedy, 1947, the Council members were on alert. They had allegedly received a secret message from Vienna conveying information about the imminent transport and also its destination. According to other sources, however, the deportation order came as a complete surprise and the selection process happened to be "chaotic". Since there were no survivors among the proxies of the community, these statements are difficult to verify. According to a progress report (Erfahrungsbericht) issued by the District Command Nord (Abschnittskommando Nord), dated November 13, 1941, most of the deportees were Jews from Prague, "rather elderly women and men, well dressed without exception." The first transport carried 258 families and 327 unmarried persons. There were 41 deportees belonging to the free professions, 96 persons in the trade and commerce sectors, and 543 craftsmen and workmen. 970 people were assessed fit to work. According to a study conducted by the Jewish Museum in Prague, Transport A carried 165 children under the age of 18, that is, 16.5% of all deportees. Among these, 139 were under 15 and 33 were under 6. The youngest were four two year old infants. Among the deportees were also refugees from the Altreich (Reich territory within the 1937 borders), from Austria and the Sudetenland. Approximately four to three days before the deportation, the Jews received written notice from an employee or envoy of the Jewish community informing them where to gather and what to bring. They were ordered to gather at the fairgrounds, in the facilities of the so called Radiomarkt, located in the Holešovice district (Holleschowitz) where they had to report to the Orpo.They spent two or three days at the Radiomarkt without food or water and with only the provisions they had brought with them. The Orpo also transferred them to the train station. These police forces consisted of German Guard Divisions that had been provided by the "Polizeiregiment Böhmen" by order of Orpo-chief Kurt Daluege to escort the deportees to the Bubner-Bahnhof railway station (Praha-Bubny) and to guard them on the deportation trains. These guards were posted at a ratio of 1:60 for the half kilometer walk from the fairgrounds to the station and at a ratio of 1:12 for the train journey to Łódź. The Germans also ordered reinforcements from the Czech gendarmerie at the stationhouse Veletržní-Messestrasse (70 officers for Transport A, 30 officers for Transport B and 20 each for Transports C and D). Since the transfer to the railway station proceeded without incident, the Germans refrained from calling in reinforcements for the last transport. The transports took place mainly in the early morning or at around noon. The police forces were called for service either between 5:30 am and 11:00 am or between 5:30 am and 9:30 am....