Berlin Deportations1941–1945

18.10.19411,091 peopleBahnhof Grunewald to Litzmannstadt

I. Transport

What happened

Confined in the Litzmannstadt (Łódź) ghetto, where many died within the first months; many of the Berlin deportees were murdered in the Chełmno (Kulmhof) extermination camp during the "Aussiedlungen" of 4–15 May 1942.

About Litzmannstadt (Łódź)

The people on this transport

The names of the people on this transport are being compiled. We are working from the Memorial Book of the German Federal Archives and the surviving transport lists, and add each name only once it has been checked against them.

If someone you know of was on this transport, you can search the Memorial Book of the Federal Archives or write to us so that they can be remembered here.

The transport list

11 further documents for this transport: Schutzpolizei report, Litzmannstadt, 13 November 1941 (Yad Vashem Archives O.6/222): publication needs Yad Vashem’s permission. We will show them once that permission has been given.

150 further documents for this transport: Łódź ghetto records (Archiwum Państwowe w Łodzi, via USHMM RG-15.083): publication needs the archives’ permission. We will show them once that permission has been given.

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Sources

Notes on the sources

Count: Loose (2009) lists 1,091 named people for this transport (statistik-des-holocaust.de cites Loose as 1,090). Contemporary Łódź records: Schutzpolizei "Einweisungs-Übersicht" 1,090; ghetto transport-list copies 1,082; ghetto "Eingesiedelte" lists 1,088. Gottwaldt/Schulle (Bundesarchiv chronology, berlin.de) 1,013; Yad Vashem "1,013–1,096"; Gleis 17 plate 1,251. Loose explains higher name counts by non-Jewish spouses who went along and unregistered infants. Survivors: Yad Vashem cites Rita Meyhöfer (3 known survivors); Loose counts at least 23 named survivors across all four Berlin–Litzmannstadt transports combined, so the per-transport figure is left null. Yad Vashem designates it "Welle I"; registered in Łódź as "Berlin I". Station: Yad Vashem states that this train left from Grunewald station; Gleis 69 e.V. (trains until spring 1942) and the Gedenkort Güterbahnhof Moabit (the first deportations in 1941) also name Bahnhof Grunewald; the berlin.de list (after Gottwaldt/Schulle) gives "Grunewald" for transports 1–10 but notes that the loading stations are not named in the original lists and are known from eyewitness accounts.

  1. Gleis 69 e.V.: Der Deportationsbahnhof (list of transports that left from Güterbahnhof Moabit) Until spring 1942 deportees had to board the trains on special tracks at Bahnhof Grunewald
  2. Gedenkort Güterbahnhof Moabit: Historischer Hintergrund The first deportations from Berlin in 1941 left from Gleis 17 at Bahnhof Grunewald
  3. Ingo Loose (ed.), Berliner Juden im Getto Litzmannstadt 1941–1944. Ein Gedenkbuch (Berlin 2009), introduction (PDF published by Stolpersteine in Berlin) Count of 1,091 named deportees; Kulmhof murders May 1942 (2,315 named Berlin deportees); at least 23 survivors from the four Berlin transports
  4. Statistik des Holocaust – I.–VII. Transport (Berlin 1941) Departure 18.10., arrival 19.10.; comparison table of Łódź records (1,090/1,082/1,088/1,090)
  5. Yad Vashem, “Transports to Extinction” deportation database, item 5092666 Grunewald station; train designated Da 4; 1,013–1,096 people; Chełmno murders 4–15 May 1942; Meyhöfer: 3 survivors
  6. Bundesarchiv, Gedenkbuch – Chronologie der Deportationen aus dem Deutschen Reich (states it relies primarily on Gottwaldt/Schulle, Die „Judendeportationen“ aus dem Deutschen Reich 1941–1945, 2005) 18 Oct 1941, 1,013, arrival 19 Oct 1941, Litzmannstadt
  7. Bezirksamt Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf (berlin.de): Liste der Deportationszüge aus Berlin von 1941 bis 1945 (compiled after Gottwaldt/Schulle 2005) No. 1, Grunewald, 1,013, arrival 19.10.1941
  8. Mahnmal Gleis 17, Bahnhof Grunewald (Deutsche Bahn, 1998) – plate inscriptions (date, number, destination) as transcribed by Gedenktafeln in Berlin Plate: 18.10.1941 / 1251 / Berlin-Lodz