Transport VIII from Caserne Dossin (Malines-Mechelen), Camp, Belgium to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp, Poland on 08/09/1942

Since mid-August 1942, the German authorities had tried to accelerate the deportation rate through mass arrests by means of large scale raids. The first such a raid was conducted on the night of August 15 in Antwerp. The reason for choosing this city instead of Brussels which had a much larger number of Jews is attributed to the compliance of the Flemish bureaucracy, tested through the introduction of the decree of the yellow badge. Whereas the Wallonian authorities in the capital had refused to distribute the Jewish star, the new mayor of Greater Antwerp, Leo Delwaide approved it. This was due to the influence of the Flemish collaboration party Vlaams Nationaal Verbond. Feldgendarmerie (FG) and SS forces arrested more than 1,000 Jews with the assistance of Belgian police. Encouraged by the smooth procedure, the SiPo-SD in Brussels ordered its branch in Antwerp, the Antwerp Department for Jewish Affairs, headed by SS-Oberscharführer Erich Holm, to conduct a second raid on August 27. However, when the police units arrived the Jews had been alerted by handwritten leaflets and had abandoned their homes in time so that Holm found himself forced to cease the operation.The next day, Holm subsequently summoned four police chiefs of Antwerp boroughs into his office and, as a "punishment" for their "betrayal", ordered them to arrest 1,000 Jews by 8 am the following morning without any assistance from the German police. In the event of non-compliance, Holm threatened to commit the relevant police executives to Breendonk concentration camp. On the night of August 28, Belgian police (comprising at least 68 officers) conducted the second raid in Antwerp with the consent of its police chief Commissioner Jozef De Potter. They detained 943 Jews, among them many children, seniors and sick people with medical certificates. They acted with utmost force and brutality and even arrested Jews in mixed marriages who according to the statutory provisions from the Military Government were still exempt from deportation. It was the only time that Belgian police officers operated alone and detained so many Jews. Only those who could prove that they were Belgian citizens were released. The detainees were registered the very same day in Mechelen and deported to Auschwitz on transports VII and VIII....