Transport from Apeldoorn, Gelderland, The Netherlands to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp, Poland on 22/01/1943

The ‘Apeldoornsche Bosch’ was a mental institution founded in 1909, located at the Zutphenseweg in Apeldoorn in the province of Gelderland. ‘Achisomog’, a children’s training institute intended for children with mental and behavioral problems, was founded in 1925. During the first years of Nazi occupation, Apeldoornsche Bosch received orders to exchange the non-Jewish for Jewish personnel and on April 1, 1942 all the non-Jewish staff, about 150 in number, was dismissed. They were replaced by Jews mainly from Amsterdam. More job vacancies were created at the Apeldoornsche Bosch in order to offer Jews protection in a place which seemed much safer compared to Amsterdam. On November 1, 1942 Dr. Aurier, an NSB-member (Nationaal Socialistische Beweging, National Socialist Movement), doctor and the Inspector of mental patients and hospitals, visited the Apeldoornsche Bosch. He came to warn the director Dr. Jacques Lobstein about the secret plans for the institution which he had heard from the German doctor F. Reuter. The mental institution was to be evacuated in order to make room for 2,000 patients from West Germany. A few days later one of Hanns Albin Rauter’s staff members, Dr. Mayer visited and asked to see the laboratory and the Röntgen machine. At the beginning of January 1943 Aus der Fuenten was ordered to visit the Apeldoornsche Bosch by Wilhelm Harster, the Commander of the Security Police and Security Service (Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des Sicherheitsdienst, BdS) to see if the place would be suitable for a military hospital. In his testimony during the trial against Aus der Fuenten, Harster claimed he received the order from Rauter or Syess-Inquart. Wilhelm Zoepf was also mentioned. On January 11 Aus der Fuenten visited the institution and met Dr. Lobstein. According to the post-war statement given by Dr. Arie Querido who worked as a physician in the Apeldoornsche Bosch, Aus der Fuenten told Dr. Lobstein that the reason for his visit was to see if there was place to accommodate more Jews. Moreover, he asked for a map of the estate and also asked if there was a train station nearby....