Transport 11, Train D 901-6 from Drancy, Camp, France to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp, Poland on 27/07/1942

The vast majority of Jews deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau on July 27, 1942 were among the childless Jews arrested on July 16 and transferred to Drancy. In addition, 62 Jews were taken from the Tourelles camp in Paris, 43 had been transferred from Châlons-sur-Marne to Drancy on July 24, and 81 Jews transferred from Nancy on July 23. On July 20, Roethke sent directives to André Tulard, head of the Service of Foreigners and Jewish Affairs at the Paris police Prefecture, concerning the next transports to leave from Le Bourget-Drancy train station including the transport scheduled for July 27. He listed items that were to be brought by each deportee including appropriate clothing such as work boots and a work outfit, in addition to bedding and a bowl, a cup and a spoon. This was a measure taken to sustain the illusion that the Jews were on a work assignment and to hide their true destination. Roethke confirmed that before departure the Jews were to be thoroughly searched, and a special wagon was to be set-aside with provisions for 15 days. One deportee per car was to be appointed to maintain order and to clean the car at the end of the journey. An escort consisting of one officer and 30 men was to be provided by the French Gendarmerie and 1 officer and 9 men would be provided by the German Feldgendarmerie (Military Police). On July 27 Roethke confirmed the departure of transport D 901-6 from the Bourget-Drancy train station on July 27 at 10:30 am with a total of 1000 Jews destined for Auschwitz. Based on a schedule for the first deportation from Drancy in June 1942, the train presumably took the following route: From Drancy the train travelled through Bobingy, Noisy-le-Sec, Epernay, Châlons-sur-Marne, Revigny, Bar le Duc, Lérouville, and Novéant (Neuburg), the last stop before the German border. The transport chief was Lieutenant Rossler. The French Gendarmerie and a small contingent of the Feldgendarmerie guarded the train until the border at Novéant. At that point the Ordnungspolizei took over its supervision. In November 1943, The German National Railway Company (Reichsbahn) set up a schedule for the transports from France. We do not have any documentation in connection with transport schedules from the Franco-German border to Auschwitz-Birkenau before that date, but in all likelihood they were very similar. Thus presumably the earlier transports to Auschwitz, including the one that departed from Drancy on July 27, 1942, took the following route once past the Franco–German border: Saarbruecken, Frankfurt/Main, Dresden, Goerlitz, Nysa, and Katowice before reaching Auschwitz....