Transport, Train Da 14 from Darmstadt, Darmstadt (Darmstadt), Hesse, Germany to Piaski Luterskie, Ghetto, Poland on 24/03/1942

The deportation train with the designation number “Da 14” for Piaski ghetto (Lublin District, General Government) was the first transport to leave Darmstadt. It had been ordered by the RSHA from the Reichsbahn for March 25, 1942. However, the exact date of the transport has been questioned by historians, ranging from March 20 to 25, 1942. Yet, after taking into account the testimonies of survivors and other research, the likelihood is high that this transport left Darmstadt the latest on March 24. 

The persons considered eligible deportation were all those who were regarded as Jews. At this time excepted were those classified as Mischling (Nazi definition for offspring of “mixed marriages”) or married to non-Jews, Jews who worked in the munitions industry and foreign Jews (with the exception of Soviet citizens). The deportation of the elderly, veterans of the First World War and “Prominente” (Jews known to the public) to Theresienstadt near Prague (Praha) only began in June 1942. Apart from the Gauleiter (district party leader) of Hesse-Nassau, Jakob Sprenger, there were other key figures involved in carrying out this transport. The head of the Gestapo offices in Darmstadt, Dr. Humbert Pifrader, as well as his colleagues in Mainz oversaw the deportation. Two weeks prior to the transport, Pifrader held a confidential meeting in the building of the Landtag at Luisenplatz regarding the implementation of the deportation with representatives of the Darmstadt public authorities, namely: the taxation office (Finanzamt), the German National Post (Reichspost), the Reichsbahn and the General State Attorney. Bruno Böhm, head of the Department for Jewish Affairs at the Darmstadt Gestapo, and Franz Jürgens, head of the Schutzpolizei (Schupo) in Darmstadt, were in charge of its organization and execution. The RSHA’s guidelines recommended that Gestapo branches force the Reich Association of Jews in Germany, Hesse, district office Mainz (Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland, Hessen), as well as local Jewish communities, to assist in preparing the transports. On March 9, 1942, the Association of Jews in Germany, Mainz office, was required to compile names and adresses. As soon as the Gestapo obtained the information, they passed copies of the deportation list to their local Department for Jewish Affairs. Those Jews selected for deportation were notified in writing. Subsequently, suicide attempts among the Jewish Community increased prior to deportation.

There were 1,000 Jews from 41 cities and towns in the provinces Rhineland-Palatine and Southern Hesse on the transport that left Darmstadt for Piaski on or around March 20, 1942. The list states 589 female and 411 male deportees, with a wide range of professions, among them also employees of the Israelite Community. Infants and school children were deported, too; the youngest was not even one year old. The eldest deportees were 65 years old. According to the deportation list 77 deportees were between 0-14 years of age, 105 between 14 and 21, 268 between 21 and 45, 246 between 45 and 55 years, and 304 between 55 and 65. The transport included approx. 466 Jews from Mainz, 164 from Darmstadt (plus 28 from the Darmstadt district, f.ex. 8 from Ober-Ramstadt, 9 from Hoechst i. Odw.). In addition, 75 to 79 from Worms (plus 15 from the Worms district, f.ex. 4 from Herrnsheim), 36 from Dieburg, 69 from the Bergstraße district (including 15 from Heppenheim), 47 from Erbach, 27 from the Gross-Gerau district, and 76 from the Bingen district. The train “Da 14” is listed on the Reichsbahn’s day-schedule (Tagesverzeichnis der Reisesonderzüge) as originating in Darmstadt where the main assembly point for this deportation was located. However, Mainz was another city through which many of the deportees from Rhine Hesse were taken en route to Easteurope. Presumably, this also included Jews from Worms and the Bingen areas....