Transport 22, Train Da 203 from Wien, Vienna, Austria to Blagovshchina (Maly Trostenets Area), forest, Murder Site, Belorussia (USSR) on 20/05/1942

Transport No. 22, labeled Da 203, departed from Aspangbahnhof on May 20th, 1942, at 7 PM and arrived in Minsk on May 26th. The transport consisted of 1,000 Jews, 287 of them were older than 61 years. The average age of the deportees was 51. A group of armed uniformed policemen (Schutzpolizei) under the command of Revierleutnant der Schutzpolizei Johann Kranzler was guarding the deportees during the trainride. On May 18th the railroad administration in Vienna announced that due to a change in the railroad routes to Minsk, the distance and price of the journey had changed and the SS would now be required to pay 20.20 Reichsmark for every deported Jew. The train stopped at Wolkowysk, where the deportees were transferred from passenger to railway cars under supervision of local and railroad police. Following a consultation which took place on May 22nd between SS-Obersturmführer Erich Lutkenhus and Reichsbahn representatives Hermann Kayser, Wilhelm Longeman and Konrad Reichardt, the “Haupteisenbahndirektion Mitte” (Main railway directorate – central division) was notified by SS Obersturmführer Georg Heuser, commander of the security police (Sipo) and the security service (SD) of White Ruthenia, that the train - scheduled to arrive in Minsk on Saturday - would be delayed in Koydanovo for two days due to the Christian Pentecost holiday and would therefore arrive in Minsk only around Tuesday. According to available documentation, an unknown number of Jews died in Koydanovo due to the oppressive heat in the train cars and the lack of food and water. The train resumed its journey on Tuesday, May 26th, leaving Koydanovo at 4:39 am. It reached the freight station in Minsk at 6:09 am....