Transport 23, Train Da 204 from Wien, Vienna, Austria to Blagovshchina (Maly Trostenets Area), forest, Murder Site, Belorussia (USSR) on 27/05/1942

Transport No. 23, labeled Da 204, departed from Aspangbahnhof in Vienna (Wien) on May 27, 1942, and arrived in Minsk on June 1. The transport consisted of 1000 Jews, 244 of them were older than 61 years. The average age of the deportees was 50. Fifteen armed uniformed policemen (Schutzpolizei) watched over the expelled Jews throughout the trainride. The names of the commanding officer as well as of two sergeants have been identified in the relevant documentation. The sergeants were Josef Bittermann and Josef Hauer and their commanding officer was Josef Fischmann (Revierleutnant der Schutzpolizei). The guards were instructed to report at the rail station at 11 am and await the arrival of the deportees. According to a telegram dated May 27, 1942, sent from the office of the rail administration in Vienna, the transport set out in a train marked RU-4601, which had earlier brought Soviet forced labor to Vienna. It was also reported that a Viennese locomotive was used up to Prerau (Prerov) and a crew of Viennese railway workers up to Jägerndorf (Krnov) .In accordance with SS requirements, the rail administration charged the SS 20.20 Reichsmark for each deportee. At Wolkowysk in the southeast of Belorussia, the Jews were transferred from passenger to freight cars. The train resumed its journey through Baranovichi to Koydanovo (Dzerzhinsk). Because of the weekend vacation, the train remained at the rail station in Koydanovo under guard and with all the Jews on board. The train resumed its journey on Monday, June 1, at 4:39 AM and arrived at the freight station in Minsk at 6:09 am....