Transport 28, Train D 901-23 from Gurs, Basses Pyrenees, France to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp, Poland on 01/09/1942

On September 1, a transport departed from Gurs with a total of 501 Jews. This was a collective transport. On its way to the occupied zone it made several stops where it was joined by other transports with deportees from other camps. The deportees from Gurs departed from the Oloron-Sainte-Marie train station at 06:50. At a stop in La Fauga, in the Haute-Garonne Department (District), 161 deportees who had departed from the Noé camp that morning joined the transport. The train made another stop in Toulouse from 14:00-15:26 to pick up a group of 253 Jews from the Vernet camp. The completed transport passed the demarcation line in Vierzon on September 2 at 07:45 and arrived in Drancy at 14:13 that afternoon. A total of 126 children were included in this transport. Captain Annou of the Cahors gendarmerie was responsible for the transport until its arrival at Vierzon. He submitted a report in which he described the difficult travel conditions: "The transport of September 1 carried a group of men, women, children, elderly, and sick. With the exception of a few who were placed in the two third class passenger wagons, the majority were placed on straw which was humid from urine…. Many fainted because of the heat and the smell." The captain complained that the sight of the train at the different stations by the local non-Jewish population caused a deeply unfavourable impression. He suggested that future transports be better organized. Georges Czaczkes was among those deported from the Vernet camp. In his post war testimony he recalls his arrival at Drancy: The deportees were told they would be questioned and then sent to Germany to work. They were placed in rooms with nothing but straw on the floor and each detainee received one blanket. All 780 Jews who had arrived in Drancy on September 2 were included in a transport that left for Auschwitz on September 4....