Transport Dh from Praha, Praha Hlavni Mesto, Bohemia, Czechoslovakia to Theresienstadt, Ghetto, Czechoslovakia on 08/07/1943

The transport described below left Prague for Theresienstadt on July 8, 1943, with 485–490 Jews aboard. Hana Hildova, who was on this transport, testified in 1996 that her parents had been selected for the transport but refused to part with her and, for this reason, did not leave her with a non-Jewish friend. They were also reluctant to endanger their friend and her spouse. The Jews designated for deportation assembled at the Messepalais fairgrounds in the Holesovice quarter of Prague, apparently after receiving special permission to use the tram to reach this location. They were housed in filthy, unhygienic barracks, guarded by Czech police on the outside and SS men on the inside. There, they went through a registration process and were forced to declare their personal property and surrender their apartment keys, valuables, cash, and more. During this time, many deportees underwent violent interrogations at the hands of the SS. According to various testimonies, the deportees were allowed to take 50 kilograms of luggage each and spent about two days at the assembly site. Several survivors testified that the crowded assembly area was noisy and described the surrender of the keys to their homes as a very harsh experience. One woman witness, testified that the Czech author and journalist Norbert Fried — one of the deportees on this transport — organized social activities at the assembly site until the transport set out....