Transport V/10 from Dresden, Dresden (Dresden Bautzen), Saxony, Germany to Theresienstadt, Ghetto, Czechoslovakia on 11/01/1944

Transport V/10 was the tenth transport from Dresden to Theresienstadt. It departed on 11 January 1944 and arrived in Theresienstadt later the same day. Apart from the Gauleiter of Saxony, Martin Mutschmann, there were other key figures involved in the execution of this transport: Wili Müller-Metz, the head of the Gestapo Dresden, and the head of Gestapo Chemnitz authorized it. Werner Jacob, the head of Department IV in Dresden, and Henry Schmidt, the head of the Dresden Department for Jewish Affairs in the RSHA, were responsible for organizing and carrying it out. Schmidt was also present in the assembly camps and even accompanied two or three transports to Theresienstadt. As soon as the Gestapo obtained the lists, they would pass copies to their local Department for Jewish Affairs, known in German as “Judenstelle”. Those Jews selected for deportation were notified in writing. The deportees were permitted to bring a sum of 50 Reichmarks, a suitcase, a full set of clothes, suitable shoes, bedding, tableware and food supplies for eight days. Additionally, those selected for deportation had to produce an inventory of all their property. If one or more of the proposed deportees committed suicide, or for any other reason could not be deported at the last minute, the Judenstelle would ensure that others would be deported instead. The deportees were normally detained in assembly camps for the last few days prior to deportation or, in the case of the early transports from Dresden, in the “Jew Houses”. Two members of the Gestapo from the Jewish Desk, would usually round up the Jews destined for deportation. The Jews were requested to hand over the apartments in tidy form after they had paid all taxes. The Gestapo searched the deportees’ luggage and the apartment, and often confiscated valuables. Subsequently they sealed the apartments. This process usually took place between one and two days prior to the actual deportation. At the assembly site the Jews were forced to sign a declaration, authorizing the transfer of their property to the State....