The transport of 19 October 1943 (Westerbork-Auschwitz), which had departed the day before by train from Camp Vught, comprised 1007 deportees, of which the majority of the men selected on arrival, who were considered fit for work, were put to work in Warsaw after 4 weeks in "quarantine", and a smaller part was sent to the coal mines at Jawischowitz, while nothing more was heard of the women after the arrival of the transport at Auschwitz.
General conclusion on the death of men transferred from Auschwitz to Warsaw. (from Auschwitz 4 – parts from paragraph 3-sub II – pp. 11 and 12)
A general conclusion, which can be drawn in advance, concerns the men who were transferred from Auschwitz to the destroyed Ghetto in Warsaw in 1943 to carry out rubble clearance work.
It can be further stated that the men in question, who belonged to various Westerbork-Auschwitz transports of 1943 (very few from 1942), but for the most part to the transports of 31 August, 7 September and 19 October 1943, together with many foreigners left Auschwitz in four contingents (7th and 8th October and 26th November 1943, and a last group in December 1943), but that all and the first two groups were immediately transported directly to Warsaw. (arrival 9 resp. 10 October 1943).
The group of 26 November certainly, the group of December 1943 probably took a detour, via Posen. On this journey, which lasted several days for the November group, according to the statement of a survivor, many were shot dead by the German guards.
The general conclusion is that all men who are known or must be assumed to have belonged to one of the groups transferred to Warsaw, unless individually proven otherwise, must be assumed to have died:
A): not earlier than the day of their departure from Auschwitz (if known; otherwise to be taken, of course, 7 October 1943) but no later than 31 March 1944, insofar as they arrived after the latter date (on which the in the first months of 1944 in the Ghetto-dominated typhus epidemic can be considered to have run out) are no longer found in Warsaw or elsewhere;
B): not earlier than 1 April 1944, but no later than 28 July 1944 (date of evacuation of the survivors to Dachau), insofar as they were reported in Warsaw after 31 March 1944, but were not found during the evacuation transport or afterwards;
C): not earlier than 28 July but no later than 6 August 1944, insofar as it is known that they left with the evacuation transport, but are not registered in Dachau.
About the transport from Westerbork to Auschwitz on 19 October 1943. (from Auschwitz 4 – Chapter III, Autumn transports 1943 – section III – parts from pages 55, 56 and 57 – and page 68).
A . Men.
On the train's arrival at Auschwitz, a selection took place immediately, during which, according to the average estimate of survivors, about 350 men were selected. The rest were immediately taken away to be gassed. The reconstructed fragment of the matricule series (enrollments/registrations) runs from 157894 (B) to 158229 (Z) and thus includes 336 matriculate (registered enrollees).This number almost corresponds to the above figure of about 350 men. The selected ones went into "quarantine" for 4 weeks, after which they were put to work in two groups. On the basis of testimonies it must be assumed that about 120 men were selected for the coal mines of Jawischowitz and that the rest (about 230 men) were taken to Warsaw. (clearing debris in the destroyed ghetto).
Only 22 numbers of the carriers of the entire matricule series (registrations/registrations) are known. The ages of those involved vary from 16 to 44 years, while, according to the transport list, the number of men aged 16 to 45 is 354, i.e. closest to the number selected. This could be seen as an indication that the selection limit ranged from 16-45 years. However, if this selection limit were to be accepted, the dropout of the weak and sick would not have been taken into account. That is why the chance of finding is greater and therefore the statistical error smaller, when a selection limit of 16-50 years is maintained. The total list of those selected to be compiled on this basis would contain 407 names. However, which of them were sent to Jawischowitz and which to Warsaw cannot be determined, except insofar as the names of those involved can be traced from witness statements or official documents.
The 22 known matricule numbers apparently all relate to men who ended up in Jawischowitz. Of 20 of them, "Fragbogen" excist while the names of the remaining 2 appear in the administration of the Krankenbau Monowitz, and from the connection it must be deduced that the administration of the Jawischowitz command was conducted in Monowitz. It is also certain that the said 20 men were still alive at the time of the evacuation (10 of them returned, 4 died in Buchenwald and Mauthausen and 5 went missing after the evacuation). The information about these 20 men therefore offers no basis for determining the fate of the rest of the Jawischowitz group.
The only point of reference for this is the time when the aforementioned 2 men were written off from the administration of the Krankenbau Monowitz. These were taken to Birkenau on 23 January ‘44 and 26 March “44.Although it must be admitted that these scanty data do not provide a firm basis for conclusions, it may nevertheless be inferred that at least until about the end of March, 1944, men from the transport of 19 October 1943, were still being selected at Jawischowitz.
Since no further data are available, there is little choice but to formulate a conclusion with the help of this. It can only read as follows that the men of the transport of 19 October 1943, who are employed in the Jawischowitz mines, insofar as no individual conclusions can be drawn about them, are presumed to have died no later than 31 March 1944. In view of what is known about the situation and in the mines in general, this conclusion is not unreasonable.
Since - finally, for the contingent sent to Warsaw, the Warsaw conclusions formulated in paragraph 3, sub I I , of Chapter I apply, whereby, unless otherwise known in individual cases, the date of 31 March 1944 is also fixed as the final date of death, In this way, the difficulty of handling the present transport has been satisfactorily resolved.
B . Women.
Nothing is known about the fate of the women of this transport. None of them returned, while nothing is certain about any selection in Auschwitz. Witness statements have also so far revealed nothing of their presence in Auschwitz or Birkenau. In connection with this it must be assumed that all the women of the transport of 19 October 1943, as well as the children, were gassed on or about the day after arrival at Auschwitz (22 October 1943).
Summary of the conclusions of the autumn transport of 19 October 1943 (from Auschwitz 4 – Appendix III – page 68).
Men: 1e): All men who belonged to this transport, who had reached the age of 16 on the day after their arrival in Auschwitz (i.e. on 22 October 1943), but who were not yet 51 years old, unless individually known otherwise is deemed to have died in Warsaw or Jawischowitz, not earlier than October 22, 1943 and not later than 31 March 1944.
2e): All other men who belonged to this transport, unless otherwise known individually, are presumed to have died in Birkenau on or about 22 October 1943.
Women: All women and children who belonged to this transport, unless otherwise known individually, are presumed to have died in Birkenau on about October 22, 1943.
Source: A U S C H W I T Z Publications. Volume IV: Deportation transports in 1943. Chapter 3, autumn transports of 1943 (24 August-16 November), page 11-12, item III at page 43 and on pages 55-57, item III A-Men and B-Women and page 68. Edited by the Board of the Dutch Red Cross on 30 October 1953.