Transport from Westerbork, Camp, The Netherlands to Sobibor, Extermination Camp, Poland on 02/03/1943

Very little is actually known about the train journey itself from the Netherlands to Sobibor. Out of a total of nearly 34, 000 Jews deported from the Netherlands to Sobibor during the spring of 1943, only 19 survived till the end of the War. This extremely high death toll was due to the nature of this site which was designed solely as an extermination camp. Following the arrival of a transport, most deportees were rapidly stripped of their clothes, women's hair was cut and then they were forced into gas chambers camouflaged as showers, and murdered. The first transport destined for Sobibor departed from Westerbork on March 2, 1943. It was comprised of 1001 deportees (some sources cite the figure 1111), among them were 412 men, and 689 women. According to a study carried out by Aline Pennewaard, the majority of deportees on this transport had arrived in Westerbork, just a few days prior to their departure. Most of the deportees were residents of Amsterdam, however, a distinct group was comprised of 268 Jews rounded up from several Jewish institutions in Rotterdam on February 26. Among them were patients and staff members (doctors and nurses) of the Jewish hospital , residents of a nursing home and children from an orphanage. The arrests in Rotterdam were carried out in a brutal manner by W.A men (members of the Dutch National Socialist Party's militia), alongside German security personnel and Dutch policemen. The oldest deportee was a 97 year old widow; the youngest was a two month old infant, born in Westerbork. 72 of the deportees were listed as prisoners (Häftlinge). This term was applied to Jews who were arrested, while in hiding or violating an Anti-Jewish decree (such as not wearing the yellow star or violating the 8 pm curfew). Their distinct treatment had already begun in Westerbork where they were interned in separate barracks, their heads were shaved and they wore a blue overall....