Transport I/71, Train Da 523 from Berlin, Berlin (Berlin), City of Berlin, Germany to Theresienstadt, Ghetto, Czechoslovakia on 03/10/1942

This was the third large transport and one of four transports from Berlin to Theresienstadt carrying nearly or over 1000 persons. Unlike the smaller transports, this one departed not from Anhalter Bahnhof, but from Berlin-Mobabit (Putlitzstrasse) train station on 3 October 1942 and arrived in Theresienstadt a day later. A train was ordered by the Gestapo and provided by Deutsche Reichsbahn under the designation Da 523. The transport consisted of 1021 Jews, of whom 653 were women and 342 were men. The average age of the deportees was 67.2. The youngest was 7 years old and the oldest was aged 90. Seven of the deportees were under the age of 12, four were between the ages of 13 and 18, twenty one were between 19 and 45, 161 were between 46 and 60, and 788 of the deportees were between the ages of 61 and 85. Fourteen of the deportees were over 85 years old. There were also 79 people from several towns in the vicinity of Berlin on that train including Brandenburg, Herzfeld, Luckenwalde, Potsdam and Rathenow. Among the deportees there were 13 people who had worked before in the Jewish labor camp in Radinkendorf, located about 90 kilometers east of Berlin. The deportees were ordered to appear at the assembly camp in Grosse Hamburger Strasse or were taken from their homes by the Gestapo. A couple of Gestapo men, members of the Jewish desk, would usually show up, in order to round up the Jews destined for deportation. The Jews were requested to hand over the apartments in tidy form, after they had paid all taxes. The Gestapo men searched the deportees’ luggage, and the apartment, and often confiscated valuables. Subsequently they sealed the apartments. Jewish wardens who assisted the deportees in packing and carrying their belongings accompanied the Gestapo men. Trucks drove the Jews to the assembly site. This process usually took place one day prior to the actual deportation. At the assembly site the Jews were forced to sign a declaration, authorizing the transfer of their property to the state....