Transport from Luxembourg, Luxembourg to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp, Poland on 12/07/1942

On June 4, 1942, the RSHA (Reich Security Main Office) issued guidelines for the implementation of transports during this period. Evidently, on the basis of these guidelines, the Luxembourg Einsatzkommando (EK) sent out a transport from a collection point at the monastery of Fünfbrunnen, on July 12, 1942, In a deposition submitted on December 7, 1960, during the course of the Eichmann trial, chair of the Ältestenrat der Juden (Jewish Council) in Luxembourg, Alfred Oppenheimer testified that this transport had been part of a set of punitive measures that the Gestapo commander in Luxembourg, Fritz Hartmann, had imposed against the Jews of that country. Hartmann wished to send the deportees to a concentration camp but, lacking authorization to make such a decision, sought permission from the RSHA in Berlin. After permission was given and the RSHA guidelines were received, these deportees were included in a mop-up transport that apparently reached Auschwitz. The organization and implementation of the transport were, as usual, the responsibility of Kriminalsekräter Otto Schmalz, head of Jewish Affairs at the Einsatzkommando (EK) of the Sipo (Security Police) and SD (Security Service) in Luxembourg. The list of deportees was also forwarded to Department IVa of the Civil Administration, headed by Ernst Christian Neugebauer who engaged in the confiscation and sale of deportees’ property. These two entities collaborated in all aspects of the organization and implementation of transports of Jews. On July 7, 1942, Oppenheimer received information about the upcoming transport: it would collect Jews from several towns and join a train to the east originating in Chemnitz. On July 8, Oppenheimer apprised his community of the transport and sent those designated for deportation the following summons given to him by the EK:...