Transport 26 from Berlin, Berlin (Berlin), City of Berlin, Germany to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp, Poland on 12/01/1943

This transport was the 26th to leave Berlin for the ghettos and killing sites in Eastern Europe and was thus designated “Osttransport 26”. It departed from the city’s Putlitzstrasse Station in the Moabit district on January 12, 1943 and arrived at Auschwitz the following day.
Historians Gottwald and Meyrhoefer estimate the number of Jews on this transport at 1,196. Among them were 74 persons belonging to various age groups from the Jewish hospital located at Auguststrasse 17. Additionally, elderly Jews who had not been transported to Theresienstadt were included in this transport. Among them was the 65-year old author Else Ury who gained fame through her popular “Nesthäkchen” book series for girls.
The Jews were kept in assembly camps spread throughout Berlin for some days prior to deportation. At these assembly sites the Jews were forced to sign a declaration authorizing the transfer of their property to the State....