Uprooting and Deportation

The process of annihilating European Jewry in extermination camps began with the deportation from their homes in late 1941. The deportation operations encompassed several stages: first, arrests were made in Aktionen or Razzien, i.e., manhunts. Then they were concentrated at transit points. From there, thousands of Jews were transported to extermination camps.  Sometimes, they were brought to an interim stage, such as ghettos or transit camps. In Eastern Europe, hundreds or even thousands of Jews were indiscriminately rounded up in each Aktion from the ghettos, to fill the quota of deportees set by the Nazis and were deported on freight trains. The train journey sometimes lasted several days under harsh conditions without water, food, or sanitary facilities and many Jews perished during the course of the journey.

The deportation of the Jews of the Reich, and subsequently the Jews of Western and Southern Europe, to the ghettos and camps in the East somewhat differed. In some cases deportees received arrest orders instructing them to report personally.  Occasionally they traveled in passenger trains and even had to buy their own tickets.

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