Transport, Train Da 27 from Muenchen, München (München), Bavaria, Germany to Kaunas, Kaunas, Lithuania on 20/11/1941

According to available documentation, 3,240 Jews resided in Munich on November 1, 1941. The first transport to set out from this city departed on November 20, 1941. Johann Pfeuffer, head of Department for Jewish Affairs at the Munich Gestapo, was summoned on short notice to a meeting in Berlin for instructions on how to carry out the transport. On his return, he ordered a representative of the Jewish community, Julius Hechinger, to draw up a list of 1,060 Jews—1,000 to be “evacuated” and sixty on “reserve” who, in the case of absences, could be deported instead.

Pfeuffer and his commander, Franz Marmon, head of Police Department II, were the local officials in charge of organizing the deportation. The Gestapo coordinated the transport with additional administrative entities including the Aryanization Department headed by SS Sturmbannführer Hans Wegner. Wegner made the Milbertshofen barracks camp available to the Gestapo and, on the orders of the Gauleiter (district party leader) Adolf Wagner, also arranged the eviction of the Jews from their homes. The Arbeitsamt (Labor Office) worked in conjunction with the Aryanization Department and oversaw the employment of Jewish slave laborers for the armament industry. A representative of this Office attended the deportation to prevent the removal of Jewish workers from their workplaces.

The task of confiscating Jewish property was assigned to the Oberfinanzpräsidium (Finance Ministry Regional Office). To carry out its mission, this office sent the entire deportation list to various banks and asked them to vet the names of people who had accounts, securities, or safe deposit boxes with the banks, and instructed them to transfer the value of the contents to the German Reich. In practice, many officials from diverse entities — banks, insurance companies, transport firms, auction houses, etc. — were also involved in confiscating Jewish property....