Transport from Koeln, Köln (Köln), Rhine Province, Germany to Berlin, Berlin (Berlin), City of Berlin, Germany on 14/01/1943

According to the historian Horst Matzerath, this transport left Cologne [Köln] on January 14, 1943. According to the historians Alfred Gottwaldt and Diana Schulle, it left on January 15. Gottwaldt reports that there were were 65 Jewish deportees on board the train. The train first went to Berlin where the group was split into two - some of the deportees joined a transport to Auschwitz while the others were sent to Theresienstadt in transports I/86; I/87; I/88. They were summoned one day prior to the deportation and so were given very little time to prepare for the transport. Fanny Mendel, who was on this transport together with her husband and her mother in-law, wrote a last note to her relatives a short time before the train departed: "My dearest! I suppose today's phone call shocked you very much. Although you were not at home I assume you were informed of our sudden departure. We have been packing and going through things since yesterday afternoon for other people as well as ourselves. Still, we are quite calm. Except for about 30 people everybody else is going with us. Even the critically ill Bloch and all the handicapped persons. There is a new Commissioner here. My dearest, just be healthy and brave. We will too. We are leaving for Berlin at around 11 o'clock. The first cars will depart from here at 8 O'clock. Mother will go to Theresienstadt for sure. As for us, our destination is uncertain". As she had assumed, Fanny and her husband Albert were deported to Auschwitz and her mother in-law Lilly Mendel to Theresienstadt.