The transport consisted of approximately 13 passenger carriages, with about 55 people in each carriage and arrived at the Koło railway station, via Kutno, at around 1 p.m. The deportees were forced to leave the train and add their luggage to the pile after which they were forced to march approximately two kilometers to the synagogue in Koło. The Jews were violently abused by the German guards as they walked through the town and those who fell down, or were unable to walk, were beaten to death and thrown on a cart.
Initially, some of the Jews still believed they had been sent to the countryside for labor purposes. They left messages written on the synagogue walls, such as, "To our Jewish brothers and sisters — be hopeful, everything will be fine, you will sleep here one night and then you will go to the countryside.”
The deportees would spend the night at the synagogue and, on the following morning, trucks would take the Jews to the Chełmno death camp.
In the camp, 10 people were usually taken aside, to write supposedly reassuring letters to their relatives. They were later shot. All the other deportees were killed on arrival in gas vans and were buried in the Rzuchów forest.
Photo: Deportation of Jews from the Łódź ghetto on cattle cars.
January 26, 1942: That morning a transport 11 left the #Łódź Ghetto with destination #Chełmno Extermination Camp. There were 761 Jews on the train while the temperature had dropped to 15 degrees below freezing (celsius). All deportees were killed on arrival in gas vans.
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