Transport from Vught, Camp, The Netherlands to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp, Poland on 15/11/1943

On November 15, 1943 and for the first time, a mass transport left the Vught (Herzogenbusch) concentration camp directly for Auschwitz-Birkenau. David Koker from Amsterdam, who was imprisoned at Vught from 1943 onwards and who was privileged to be part of the Jewish camp administration as a prisoner-supervisor, helped to remove Jews from this transport by transferring them to the Philips plant at Vught. In this way, he was able to ensure that family members were not separated from each other. On November 20, 1943 he noted in his camp diary that, because this transport went directly to Poland, people who otherwise would have been sent to Westerbork were sent to Auschwitz. According to a letter sent by Zöpf to Eichmann dated September 24, many skilled Jewish workers at the Philips plants, who until then had been exempt from transport, were now deported. The transport comprised also Jews working in the textile sector ("Konfektionsjuden") and many Jews in mixed marriages as well as people classified as "half Jews". According to a report compiled by the Dutch Red Cross, most of the deportees were men and women of working age. However, there were also some old people and young children on this transport too. Out of the 1,149 deportees who were on board the train, 19 were children under 18 years of age. The youngest person we know of was three year old Robert Wolff (born 20.3.1940). According to historian Jacob Presser, Richard Süsskind, the head of the Jewish self-administration of Vught, was also among the deportees....