Deportation of those who remained behind -stayed at home-
On October 21, 1938 the Secret State Police - GESTAPO - in Kassel had given
orders to execute a very important task, namely the compiling of ‘Jews’-lists’arranged according to counties. The erstwhile head of the Huenfeld county
administration followed these orders on November 10, 1939. Back then 64 Jewish
people were listed as living within the county of Huenfeld. With these lists,
people who were slated for deportation, could be promptly and unbureaucratically
accessed. Except for just a few of them, who still succeeded to escape, or who
died beforehand, they all were deported from their hometowns or other places of
refuge and were murdered. Only Inge Nussbaum, Alfred Braunschweiger, and Julchen
Stuckhardt from Burghaun as well as Joseph and Lilly Strauss from
Huenfeld survived.
The systematic deportation in the county of Huenfeld was mainly executed in
three waves:
Deportation to Riga on December 8, 1942 - deportation to the Lublin district, most
likely also to the KZ Majdanek, and Sobibor on May 31, 1942 - deportation to
Theresienstadt on September 5, 1942.
After on June 22, 1941 the German Armed Forces had invaded the Soviet Union,
and mass executions by the killing squads ( Einsatzgruppen ) were in full swing,
systematic deportations from the ‘German Reich’ started on October 19, 1942 with
approximatley 1100 Jews from Frankfurt, Main to the ghetto at Lodz. A few days
prior to their deportation those people, who were slated for deportation, were
given notice by the authorities and instructed about things they were permitted
to take along: ” Provisons for two days, one mess kit without knife, two blankets,
warm clothing, one pair of boots; maximum weight of 25 kilogram; one suitcase
with nametag attached, never to be opened again.”