GENERAL REMARKS regarding deportation transports to Auschwitz in 1943
The period from 24 August to 16 November 1943, during which 8 transports left directly for Auschwitz, namely: 7 from Westerbork and 1 from Vught can simply be called "Autumn transports 1943".
The Autumn transports of 1943
Of the 8 deportation transports that left the Netherlands during this period, some suffered a similar fate. In connection with this, the following can be stated for the treatment of the transport of 19 October 1943: that of the transport of 19 October 1943 (Westerbork-Auschwitz), of which the majority of the men selected on arrival and deemed fit for work had returned after 4 weeks. "quarantine" was put to work in Warsaw, while a smaller part was sent to the coal mines at Jawischowitz. Nothing more was heard about the women after the arrival of the transport at Auschwitz.
These so-called autumn transports each numbered around 1000 people and, with the exception of the Vught transport of 15 November 1943, also show relatively little difference in terms of their overall composition, as can be seen from the overview below, which also shows the numbers for orientation purposes. survivors are listed.
From Wbk Child: <15 M:16-50 F:16-50 M+F >50 Total Survived M F
31 Aug 1943 160 268 381 195 1004 5 0
07 Sep 1943 170 264 338 215 987 5 3
19 Oct 1943 87 407 306 207 1007 11 0
GENERAL CONCLUSION regarding the death of men sent from Auschwitz to Warsaw.
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-clearing work. It can be further stated that the men in question 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 (on 7 and 8 October and 26 November 1943, and a final group in December 1943), but that all and the first two groups were immediately transported directly to Warsaw (arrival 9 and 10 October 1943 respectively).
The transpoort of 19 October 1943
A:) Man.
Upon arrival of the train in Auschwitz, a selection immediately took place, in which, according to the average estimate of survivors, approximately 350 men were selected. The rest were immediately taken away to be gassed.
The reconstructed fragment of the matricule series runs from 157894 (B) to 158229 (Z) and therefore includes 336 matriculates. This number virtually corresponds to the above figure of approximately 350 men. The selected people went into "quarantine" for 4 weeks, after which they were put to work in two groups.
Based on witness statements, it must be assumed that approximately 120 men were selected for the Jawischowitz coal mines and that the remainder (approx. 230 men) were taken to Warsaw.
The carriers of only 22 numbers of the entire matricule series 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, which is close to the number selected.
This could be seen as an indication that the selection limit ranged from 16 to 45 years. However, if this selection limit were accepted, the loss of weight of the weak and sick would not have been taken into account. Therefore, the probability of detection is greater and therefore the statistical error is smaller if a selection limit of 16-50 years is used. The total list of those selected on this basis would contain 407 names. However, it is not possible to determine which of them were sent to Jawischowitz and which to Warsaw, unless the names of those involved can be determined 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, namely: "Fragebogen", while the names of the remaining 2 appear in the administration of the Krankenbau Monowitz, and from the context it must be deduced that the administration of the Jawischowitz command was conducted in Monowitz.
It is furthermore certain that the 20 men in question 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 regarding these 20 men therefore does not provide any basis for determining the fate of the rest of the Jawischowitz group.
The only point of reference for this is the time at which the above-mentioned 2 men were written off from the administration of the Krankenbau Monowitz. These were taken to Birkenau on 23 January 1944 and 26 March 1944. Although it must be admitted that these summary data do not provide a firm basis for conclusions, it can nevertheless be deduced that at least until approximately the end of March 1944, men from the transport of 19 October 1943 in Jawischowitz were still selected.
Since no further data are available, there is little choice but to formulate a conclusion based on this. This can only read as follows: the men from the transport of 19 October 1943, who were employed in the mines of Jawischowitz, insofar as no individual conclusions can be drawn about them, are deemed to have died no later than 31 March 1944. In view of what is generally known about conditions in the mines, this conclusion is not unreasonable.
Since, finally, the Warsaw Conclusions formulated in paragraph 3(II) of Chapter I apply to the contingent sent to Warsaw, whereby, unless otherwise known in individual cases, the date of 31 March 1944 has also been fixed as the final date of death, In this way the difficulty presented by the handling of the transport in question has been solved in an acceptable manner.
B:) Women and children
Nothing at all is known about the fate of the women on this transport. None of them have returned, while nothing is certain about any selection in Auschwitz. So far, witness statements have also not revealed any evidence of their presence in Auschwitz or Birkenau. In this context it must be assumed that all women on the transport of 19 October 1943, as well as the children, were murderd by gassing on or about the day after their arrival at Auschwitz (22 October 1943).
SUMMARY CONCLUSIONS of the TRANSPORT 19 OCTOBER 1943
MEN
1st. All men belonging to the aforementioned transport who had reached the age of 16 on the day after their arrival at Auschwitz (i.e. on 22 October 1943), but were not yet 51 years old, will, unless individually known otherwise (see also Chapter I, paragraph 3 sub II) is deemed to have died in Warsaw or Jawischowitz, not earlier than 22 October 1943 and not later than 31 March 1944.
2nd. All other men belonging to the aforementioned transport are, unless individually known otherwise, considered to have died in Birkenau on or about October 22, 1943.
WOMEN and CHILDREN
All women and children belonging to the aforementioned transport are, unless individually known otherwise, deemed to have died in Birkenau on or about 22 October 1943.
Source: the Archives of the Red Cross, publication "Auschwitz IV" from October 1953, page 5 General, page 43 Chapter III sub III, overview page 44, and pages 55, 56 and 57/transport of 9 October 1943 and page 68/summary of the conclusion on the transport of 19 October 1943.