Transport from Gleiwitz, Gleiwitz (Oppeln), Silesia (Upper), Germany to unstated place on 16/05/1942

The deportations apparently started after the Gestapo Gleiwitz received a cable with instructions to begin the deportations immediately: "All Upper Silesian Jews are to be deported, excluding the families Guratze in Tost and Kochmann in Gleiwitz and the mixed marriages." The family Guratze were ennobled Jews who had influential friends among the higher Wehrmacht echelon. The Kochmann family was related to the Italian ambassador to Stockholm and personal friend of Mussolini, Giuseppe Renzetti. However, Schlesinger quotes from his memory as there does not seem to be a copy of this cable and he did not disclose the source of his information. In a letter to the Reichsvereinigung dated May 15, 1942, Kochmann recorded the following details of the deportation procedure: "This morning, the nurse Emma Sara Ritter, who is employed by us, went to the office of the Gestapo Gleiwitz in order to get permission to visit the detained spouses Roth. On this occasion, the Gestapo officer Linz conveyed the message that 70 members of our community would be evacuated in the course of the day and that the rest would share the same fate throughout the next week. The same officer called some hours later prompting us to instruct the occupants of the dwellings Bahnhofstrasse 4, Oberwallstrasse 14, and Neudorfstrasse 5 that all of them, whatever their age, would have to prepare for a certain hour later in the day to be evacuated. Only the very necessary items should be packed into a knapsack or, if not available, should be wrapped into a sheet or blanket. With regard to funds we were told that the evacuees would be able to bring any amount. As we just learned, the occupants of Bahnhofstrasse 4 had already been picked up by a police car. This included the director of our school, Wilhelm Fleischer and the former merchant Fritz Grünpeter… ."...