Transport XXIV/5 from Westerbork, Camp, The Netherlands to Theresienstadt, Ghetto, Czechoslovakia on 05/04/1944

The fifth transport from Westerbork to Theresienstadt set out on April 5 with 289 Jews aboard and reached its destination two days later. A letter from the Security Police was sent on April 15 to the commander of Theresienstadt, Karl Rahm, including the passenger manifest. The roster of deportees was composed of 8 categories. The largest group, as in most transports to Theresienstadt, was the Stammliste (veterans of Westerbork), with 179 Jews who had helped to construct and operate the camp, and their families. Eichmann had approved their deportation to Theresienstadt while visiting The Hague in late 1943. The other groups consisted of 11 war-veteran Jews who had received the Class II Iron Cross and disabled war veterans who had received a golden Cross with their family members; 9 Jews who had attained notable achievements for the Reich, particularly in civilian capacities, and their families; 36 Jews who were being deported to Theresienstadt at the behest of the Central Bureau for Jewish Emigration in Amsterdam; 4 Portuguese Jews whose origins were still in question (308 Portuguese Jews had been transported to Theresienstadt on February 25 that year); 39 Jews whose “place of residence had been changed” by special order from the BdS in The Hague and the RSHA (Reichssicherheitshauptamt—Reich Main Security Office) in Berlin— these appear to be Jews who held Swedish or American citizenship; Geltungsjuden (deemed Jews ); and children whose parents had already reached Theresienstadt. After the fact, an identical letter was sent to Seyss-Inquart for his approval. The missive was needed for bureaucratic reasons only, given that the Jews included in the transport had been selected on the basis of Seyss-Inquart’s guidelines and with his approval. This transport, however, was exceptional and unlike the previous ones that had gone directly to this destination. Various testimonies indicate that it took up only one portion of a train and actually consisted of three transports. The reason, it seems, was a shortage of special deportation trains at the time, evidently occasioned by the growing need for transport to move troops and armaments to the various fronts....