Transport 45, Train Da.901/38 from Drancy, Camp, France to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp, Poland on 11/11/1942

The German authorities in France now looked for ways to intensify the arrests of foreign Jews residing in France. On October 30, Roethke sent Knochen a report summarizing the raids conducted in the occupied zone. The report claimed that 1,965 Jews in total were arrested and transferred to the Drancy internment camp and asked that three transports be arranged to depart for Auschwitz during the first ten days of November. He further noted that the German Embassy in Paris authorized the arrest of Greek Jews residing in France, and that the records in his office indicated that 1,416 Jews with Greek citizenship were registered in the Seine Department. The next day, October 31, Roethke sent a report to Eichmann in Berlin stating that within a few weeks there would be 3,000 Jews incarcerated at the Drancy camp, and that he therefore intended to send out three transports on November 4, 6, and 9. On November 4, Emile Hennnequin, chief of the Parisian police, instructed the police chiefs in stations in Paris and its suburbs to arrest the Greek nationals. The raid began on November 5 at midnight and ended at 6:00 a.m. The detainees were brought to the local police stations. At each station, a bus and a guard detail were waiting to take the deportees to the Drancy camp. On November 5, Roethke sent Knochen a report of the raid conducted that morning: 1,060 Greek Jews were arrested, among them 364 men, 523 women, and 173 children....