Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and Murder of the Jews by Peter Longerich (booksvooks TXT) ๐
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- Author: Peter Longerich
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hundred members formed early in 1942. In October 1942 the attempt to bring a
group of resistance fighters out of the ghetto failed; the secret organization was
eliminated by the occupying forces. 64
386
Extermination of the European Jew, 1942โ1945
Continuation of the Deportations
German Reich
After Hitlerโs decision in September 1942 to replace those Jews still working in
armaments production, the preparations for a sudden (schlagartig) deportation of
this group began in late 1942. In view of the large-scale recruitment of foreign
workers planned for early 1943, the replacement of Jewish skilled workers did not
seem to pose an insuperable problem. 65
The โwithdrawal of all Jews still engaged in the work processโ began on
27 February 1943. In Berlin alone, the SS Bodyguard units (Leibstandarte) arrested
some 7,000 people in their workplaces or homes; a few days later they were
deported to Auschwitz. 66 At this point there were no plans to deport Jews living in โmixed marriagesโ; they were also arrested, but they were released to go home.
In Berlin, however, hundreds of men from this group were held in two buildings
belonging to the Jewish community, presumably to have staff available to replace
the deported employees. Remarkably, there was a spontaneous public protest by
the families of these men, who stood for days outside the building on Rosen-
strasse. But the fact that the Gestapo finally released the men held in Rosenstrasse
was not the result of this protest; at this point there had been no plans to deport
them in any case. 67
After this surge in deportations (between early January and mid-March 1943 a
total of sixteen transport trains, most of them carrying 1,000 people each, had
gone to Auschwitz68), 31,897 people of Jewish origin still lived in the Reich, more than 18,515 of them in Berlin. Of the Jews living in the Reich 17,517 were free of the
obligation to wear the yellow star. 69 From then on the deportations continued only on a smaller scale. 70
The major deportations to Theresienstadt in the summer of 1942 were followed
by numerous smaller transports. From November 1942 until mid-1943 there were
almost 100 of these, each one usually carrying 50 or 100 people. The only special
train to Theresienstadt, involving more than 1,200 people, left Berlin on 17 March
1943. 71
In December 1943 the RSHA ordered the โchange of residenceโ to Theresien-
stadt of certain groups hitherto spared deportation. This was to start at the
beginning of the year and particularly affected were the Jewish spouses of mixed
marriages that no longer existed, and whoโbecause of the existence of children
who were not deemed to be Jewishโhad been free of the obligation to wear the
yellow star. 72 In 1943, ten transports had gone from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz, each carrying more than 1,000, but in some cases far more than 2,000 people. 73
During the whole of 1944 further smaller deportations left the Reich
for Auschwitz. In particular, during that year further large transports left
Murders and Deportations, 1942โ3
387
Theresienstadt for Auschwitz: three carrying 2,500 people in May, and a further
eleven in September and October, with between 1,500 and 2,500 people. 74
In January 1945, in one last action, the RSHA planned to deport those Jews still
โon work deploymentโ to Theresienstadt, but also the elderly, the sick, and
children hitherto excluded from the deportations. But because of military devel-
opments this plan could not be carried out across the whole of the Reich. 75
Netherlands
In the Netherlands, 76 from which 38,000 people had been deported by the end of 1942, the deportations resumed in January 1943, after a one-month โChristmas
breakโ. As a rule, one train per week travelled to Auschwitz from the collection
camp of Westerbork. In the middle of January a second camp was opened at
Vught. In March, when the murder of the Jews from Thessaloniki began in
Auschwitz, the Dutch transports went to Sobibor extermination camp, where
almost all deportees were murdered immediately on their arrival. In May, pre-
sumably in connection with the general radicalization of Judenpolitik after the
Warsaw ghetto uprising, the RSHA ordered that the number of those to be
deported from the Netherlands be raised forthwith: between 18 May and 20 July,
almost 18,000 people were deported to Sobibor, including children from the
Vught labour camp, accompanied by their mothers. Of the 34,313 people
who came to Sobibor from the Netherlands by 20 July, only 19 would survive.
After a five-week break the deportations resumed on 24 August at weekly inter-
valsโwith interruptions in September/October and between November and
Januaryโprimarily to Auschwitz. From September 1944 some transports also
went to Theresienstadt and some to the โdelivery campโ (Auslieferungslager) of
Bergen-Belsen. It was only in the spring of 1944 that the pace of the deportations
slowed. However, on 3 September 1944, another 1,019 people were deported to
Auschwitz; the last deportation from the Netherlands, to Bergen-Belsen, was
carried out on 13 September. 77 Overall, 107,000 Jews living in the Netherlands were deported; around 102,000 of those died.
Belgium
From the end of 1942 the RSHA and the German department of the Foreign
Ministry urged that Jews of Belgian citizenship, who had so far been spared,
should now be deported. In December 1942 Luther requested that the Brussels
office of the Foreign Ministry, โin association with the military commander,
consider the possibility of extending the measures already taken to all the Jews
in Belgium, and round them up in the collection camps until they could be
transported . . . A thorough cleansing of Belgium of the Jews must occur sooner
388
Extermination of the European Jew, 1942โ1945
or later at all costs.โ The deportation of Belgian Jews should begin as soon as
possible. 78
The director of the Foreign Ministry office in Brussels, Werner von Bargen,
confirmed in January 1943 that after the deportation of all foreign Jews it was also
planned to โget rid ofโ some 4,000 Jews with Belgian citizenship โat the same timeโ;
however, because of a shortage of rolling stock no deportations were possible. And
the capacity of the single camp, Mechelen, was not enough to intern all the
countryโs Jews there. 79 It was not until 29 June that the Gestapo office in Brussels informed Mechelen camp that because of an order from Himmler, โJews of Belgian
citizenship must now be included in the deportation actions without delayโ. 80
On 3 and 4 September large numbers of Belgian Jews were arrested in a raid in
Brussels
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