Transport from Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp, Poland on 20/04/1943

On April 20, 1943, the twelfth transport departed from Thessaloniki. Around 2,800 Jews were included in this transport. Oro Halegua was among the deportees. According to her testimony the train was composed of 9 wagons; 4 in front, one in the middle reserved for pregnant women, and 4 more behind it. Over 60 people were crammed in each wagon. She was in a car with her entire family apart from her sister who was among the pregnant women. The train made two stops. The first took place after two days of travel and they were told to get out to relieve themselves. During the other stop, three days later, her brother-in-law asked one of the guards if his wife had given birth. He learned that she had given birth to a boy. The guard brought the baby to the door of the train for a quick second and that was it. When they arrived at Auschwitz, her sister and newborn baby, together with the rest of her family, were taken by truck to the gas chambers. Oro Halegua was the only one to survive. According to Danuta Czech's Auschwitz Chronicle, 2,700 Jews arrived at Auschwitz on April 26. Upon arrival at Auschwitz, 445 men were admitted into the camp and tattooed with numbers 118425-118869. 193 women were also admitted and tattooed with the numbers 42882-43074. The remaining Jews were murdered in the gas chambers immediately upon arrival.