Transport 2 from Compiegne, Camp, France to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp, Poland on 05/06/1942

The transport was scheduled to depart for the East on June 5, 1942 and was initially aimed at the deportation of ‘communists, Jews, and asocial elements’. In a phone conversation on May 4, 1942 with SS-Sturmbannfuehrer Rolf Guenther, Eichmann’s deputy at the RSHA’s department for Emigration and Jewish Affairs (IVB4b), Dannecker informed Guenther that a speedy deportation was needed - he was aggravated at the constant demands that were being made by family members of the detained in an attempt to free them from the camps. Guenther promised to present a train schedule as soon as the question of the rolling material would be resolved. He further informed Dannecker that it was not possible to mix communists, Jews and asocials as planned, and thus requested that a special train only for Jews be made available right away. On May 13, 1942, a meeting was held between Dannecker and Lieutenant General Otto Kohl, head of the ETRA (Eisenbahntransport, Railway Transport Section) in Paris, in which the question of availability of rolling materials for the upcoming transports was discussed. In the meeting, Dannecker gave Kohl an overview of the situation of the Jews in France. Kohl indicated that he was ready for the deportation of 10,000-20,000 Jews from France and that he would provide the necessary equipment including the transportation cars. In a telex sent on May 16, from Guenther, to Helmut Knochen, Senior Commander of the Sipo-SD in France, Guenther confirmed that a special train had been ordered from the transportation ministry of the Reich for the upcoming deportation of a new group of 1,000 Jews from the Compiègne camp to Auschwitz. He also confirmed that the escort, to be comprised of at least one officer and 15 policemen, was to be provided by Paris up to the border....