Addition

Móre about the transport of 12 October 1942 Westerbork -> Auschwitz.

A direct transport to Auschwitz; no stopover at Cosel.

Quite a lot is known about the fate of this very large transport (1711 people), partly because letters were received from a particularly large number of deportees, both men and women, from the men mainly from Jawischowitz, from the women from Birkenau. Some men have written 2 or 3 times.

A total of 68 letters were received, namely:

1st): Letters from Jawischowitz from 44 men, and (last): on 15 June 1943, letters from 12 men; on 7 September 1943: 21; on 8 November 1943: 9; on an unknown date in 1943: 2.

2nd): Letters from 2 men from Birkenau, most recently on 8 November 1943, respectively 7 April 1944.

3rd): Letters from Birkenau from 22 women, namely: on 1 December 1942, letters from 19 women; on 14 December 1942 letters from 2 women; and on an unknown date between February and May 1943, a letter from 1 woman.

Furthermore, the names of respectively 29 and 15 men for the administration of the "Krankenbau" (hospital) in Birkenau and the "Kommandobuch" (command book) of Golleschau, while "Fragebogen" (questionnaire) have been found for 21 men, including those of 6 survivors (of the other two survivors there are no "Fragebogen" The availability of all this data means that the time of death of a fairly large number of deportees deported by this transport could be determined individually. 

Separate conclusions apply to deportees belonging to the categories distinguished above, for whom this is not possible, applicable to these categories in general. These conclusions are formulated in paragraphs 6 to 9 in chapter III of the publication Auschwitz III.

Once again, all that remains is to determine a final date of death for those for whom individually no data at all is available. As far as women are concerned, the fact of the 22 letter writers, whose ages range from 16 to 43 years, could give rise to the idea that the entire group of women of approximately that age, with some exceptions, has been selected for employment. 

However, on the other hand, it would be remarkable and, in the context of what is generally known about the Auschwitz transports, certainly inexplicable, that none of the women belonging to that group existed, either from statements by surviving women from other transports, or from the administration, as has ever been revealed. 

Various assumptions are possible here, even that the letter writing was merely camouflage, and that the women who were allowed or forced to write the letters (possibly sent later) were gassed immediately afterwards, but also that some women were indeed employed, albeit for performing such hard work, and under such unfavorable conditions, that they succumbed soon afterwards. Nothing can be proven with certainty, especially because no matricule-numbers of the women have been found in the administration. 

However, in the context as a whole, there is no sufficient reason to simply ignore the letter list and it seems reasonable to assume that the letter writers at least survived the selection upon arrival. On the other hand, there are no indications that other women, apart from the letter writers, were spared in that selection. This leads to the conclusion that it can only be assumed from this transport that all women, except those from whom letters were received, were killed by gassing immediately upon arrival, i.e. on or about 15 October 1942. 

The men of this transport are matriculated in two number series, respectively running from 67804 (B) to 67951 (Z) and from 67956 (B) to 68152 (Z). So at least 148 + 197 = 345 men have been designated for employment. Since this figure almost corresponds to the total number of men in the age group 15-50 years (344), the selections must have taken approximately this age limit into account. This is confirmed by the ages of the particularly well-known matriculates.  

According to statements from survivors, 151 of those employed were sent to Jawischowitz. The others remained in Auschwitz and Birkenau, except for the above-mentioned 15 well-known men, who were found in Golleschau, and 2 equally well-known men, who ended up in a rarely mentioned camp (Schwientochlowitz) in special positions. 

Who belonged to the Jawischowitz group or to the Auschwitz-Birkenau group is only known in individual cases, so that nominative lists of both groups can be drawn up separately. Moreover, since men who fell ill in Jawischowitz were returned to Auschwitz (Birkenau), which is evident from the fact that some of them were admitted to the "Krankenbau", (prisoners hospital) in order to determine a final date of death for the deportees belonging to these groups, both groups are considered together. 

It then turns out that of the 123 known dates of death:4 are in October 1942; 67 in November 1942; 27 in December 1942; 16 in January 1943; 5 in February 1943; 2 in March 1943; 1 in April 1943 and 1 in August 1943. 

These figures show that the high mortality occurred before the end of February 1943, so that the most likely final date of death for employees whose time of death cannot be determined individually must be assumed to be 28 February 1943. 

Source: the archives of the Dutch Red Cross, publication Auschwitz III from October 1953, chapter III, pages 74-79

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