Route after disembarking at Cosel:
The route followed by most of the transport (camps where one stayed successively): St. Annaberg or Sakrau-Blechhammer and later partly to Bismarckhütte and Monowitz.
Arrived in Blechhammer:
- 19 representatives in mid-October '42 from St.Annaberg with 200 to 300 Dutch men. Of these 19, 1 went with the evacuation transport, 3 were liberated in Blechhammer, and 4 were sent on to Bismarckhütte in the last half of October 1942.
- 7 representatives from Sakrau in mid-October 1942 with 100 to 120 Dutch men. Of them, 3 went with the evacuation transport and 4 were liberated in Blechhammer.
- 1 representative ± 25 May ’44 from Ottmuth. The further route of this returnee is unknown.
- 1 representative (X) in April ’43 of Gleiwitz. (X= accompanied the evacuation transport)
- 1 representative (X) in August '43 from Laurahütte (X= accompanied by evacuation transport)
- 1 representative on unknown date from unknown place. Further route also unknown.
Arrived in the Auschwitz resort: 4 representatives ±mid October ’44 from Blechhammer in Bismarckhütte with 80 to 100 Dutch people. All 4 were transferred to Monowitz in December '44 where they were liberated ± January 27th '45.
Arrived in Gleizitz: 1 representative in November ’42 from St.Annaberg. Was transferred to Blechhammer in March/April ’43.
More about the transport of 5 October 1942
From Cosel, about half of the disembarked contingent (total ± 550 men) went to the St. Annaberg transit camp and the other half to the Sakrau transit camp.
Subsequently, the largest part was sent on to Blechhammer in October 1942. Smaller transports went, also in October 1942, to Gleiwitz and Laurahütte.
The survivors of these transports were later transferred, at least for the most part, to Blechhammer (from Gleiwitz in April 1943 and from Laurahütte in August 1943).
Since it is not known who were taken directly to Blechhammer and who went via Gleitwitz or Laurahütte, except for reports about individual persons, with regard to those missing persons who were not found in Blechhammer, it can only be established that they must have died no later than at the end of August 1943 in labor camps in Upper Silesia, Poland.
236 men were found in Blechhammer. Later (in October 1944) a number of them were sent on to Bismarckhütte, of which the survivors were subsequently taken to Monowitz at the end of 1944/early 1945.
As for the Blechhammer cases (see otherwhere the transport of 28 August 1942), a general conclusion will be drawn at the end of this report for those deported to Bismarckhütte/Monowitz. A few of the transport of 5 October 1942 have been found in scattered camps such as Bobrek, Malapane and one in the Gross Rosen resort. However, these are isolated cases and should be treated as such.
SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS for the Cosel transport of 5 October 1942.
The following overview states: in column 1: the date of departure of the Cosel transports from Westerbork; in column 2 and 3: The date after, respectively the date before were born the men, who, barring exeptions, have been disembarked at Cosel Station; in column 4: the date on or about which should be deemed to have died in Auschwitz II (Birkenau) all deportees who did not disembark in Cosel, insofar as it does not appear that they lived longer.
Column 1: from Westerbork 5 October 1942
Column 2: men born after 8 October 1891
Column 3: but before 8 October 1927
Column 4: Presumed to have died 8 October 1942.
Those who traveled directly to Auschwitz and who did not die immediately upon arrival, must be considered to have died after 8 October 1942, but no later than 31 January 1943.
Those who have been placed on a sick transport from any camp and who have not been heard from since then, must be deemed to have died in the course of the month in which the patient transport departed. The place of death for those who were deported from Blechhammer: Auschwitz II (Birkenau) and for those who left other camps: one of the labor or concentration camps in Silesia (Poland).
Those who were found in Blechhammer before 1 April 1944, but about whose further fate nothing is known, must be deemed to have died no later than 31 March 1944. Those whose existence in Blechhammer was still found after the latter date, while after that nothing more has been learned about them, must be assumed to have been alive at the time of the evacuation and to have accompanied the evacuation transport. To determine the place and time of their death, the rules set out in the "Auschwitz VI" section of these publications apply.
Those who were found in Bismarckhutte or Monowitz after 1 October 1944, but whose further fate is unknown, must be considered to have been alive at the time of the evacuation and to have accompanied the evacuation transport. To determine the place and time of their death, the rules set out in the part "Auschwitz VI" of these publications apply.
Those who were found in Ottmuth, but who have not been heard from since then, must be deemed to have died no later than 30 April 1944 in one of the labor camps in Silesia (Poland).
With regard to individual transports, including the transport of 5 October 1942, the conclusion must be, unless it appears otherwise in individual cases and taking into account the general conclusions stated, the men who disembarked in Cosel must be deemed to have died after 8 October 1942, but no later than on 31 August 1943 in one of the labor camps in Upper Silesia (Poland).
Source: The Red Cross Archives, excerpts from the October 1952 publication "Auschwitz III - Deportation Transports in the Cosel Period; pages 12, 13, 23, 24, 35, 36, 39, 47 and 48 as well as Appendix III.