Transport VII from Caserne Dossin (Malines-Mechelen), Camp, Belgium to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp, Poland on 01/09/1942

On August 28, 1942 Adolf Eichmann convened a meeting in the RSHA in Berlin where it was decided that the quota of the Jews to be deported would be increased from 10,000 to 20,000 before the end of 1942. The department of Jewish Affairs in Brussels was instructed to increase the transports, since Eichmann expected limited means of transport in the months November, December and January. Jews with Belgian citizenship, as well as Jews in mixed marriages were still exempt from deportation, but it was also decided that the foreign Jews in Belgium would all be deported by the end of June 1943.

Call-up letters for labour-service in Germany were distributed by the AJB to the foreign Jews residing in Belgium. The order instructed each person to report to the Dossin casern and to bring provisions for 14 days (non-perishable rations such as oat flakes and canned food), as well as a long list of other items that included work boots, overalls and other indispensable clothes, a bowl and a cup, ration coupons, clothing vouchers and identity papers....