Transport XII from Caserne Dossin (Malines-Mechelen), Camp, Belgium to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp, Poland on 10/10/1942

Since the opening of the Mechelen camp, call-up letters had been distributed among non-Belgian Jews residing in Belgium for labour service in Germany. Jews with Belgian citizenship, as well as Jews in mixed marriages were still exempt from deportation. Thus far the German authorities were not satisfied with the number of people who had reported at Mechelen in response to the call-up letters and therefore the last call-up letters were sent on September 3. A more effective strategy for the Germans was to arrest large numbers of Jews in raids. SS-Oberscharführer Erich Holm, who headed the Sipo-SD branch in Antwerp, organized three large raids in Antwerp from mid-August until mid-September. The SS, FG (Feldgendarmerie - German military police units) and GFP (Geheime Feldpolizei - Secret Field Police) arrested about 1,000 foreign Jews in each raid. In Brussels one raid was organized on September 3, in which forces of the Brussels BdS, the FG, the GFP and regular Wehrmacht forces arrested around 660 Jews. In Antwerp the German authorities were aided by the local police, while in Brussels the local police refused cooperation.

On August 28, 1942 Eichmann convened a meeting in the RSHA in Berlin with Heinz Roethke, who served as an expert on Jewish Affairs (Judenberater) in France. In a report of this meeting issued by Horst Ahnert, Roethke’s assistant, it was announced that the quota of the Jews to be deported would be raised to 20,000 before the end of 1942. Because Eichmann expected limited means of transport from November to January, he instructed the department of Jewish Affairs in Brussels to increase the transports. Starting from mid-September he could make daily a train available. In a letter dated September 15, Reeder responded to Eichmann’s instruction. He reported to von Falkenhausen that, up until this date, 10,000 Jews had been deported from Mechelen and that the Sipo hoped to deport 20,000 Jews by the end of October....