Transport D, Train Da 17 from Praha, Praha Hlavni Mesto, Bohemia, Czechoslovakia to Lodz, Ghetto, Poland on 31/10/1941

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 to organize Transport D for October 31. However, so far there are no testimonies documenting the chain of command. The fourth transport carried 297 families and 192 unmarried persons. According to a report issued by Gestapo officer Kommissar Fuchs in Lodz (dated November 4, 1941), there were 20 deportees belonging to the free professions, 187 persons in the trade and commerce sectors and 440 craftsmen and workmen. 960 people were assessed fit to work. According to a study by the Jewish Museum in Prague, 112 deportees were younger than 18, 77 children younger than 15, and 15 under the age of 6. The youngest child was Otto Ašermann. His father Josef, born 1906, and grandparents Hermina, born 1875 and Rudolf, born 1873 were also on the transport. The medical staff who worked on behalf of the Lodz Ghetto administration listed 80 patients some of whom had serious diseases including 10 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis. Transport D also carried refugees, mainly Jews from 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....