Report by Alfred Wetzler and Rudolf Vrba, two Escapees from Auschwitz (Late April 1944)

page 11 of 26    print version    return to list

previous document      next document

10. Transport Arrivals at Auschwitz-Birkenau, January - February 1943.

At about the number 80,000, the systematic extermination of those from the Polish ghettos began.

Numbers	Transports
c. 80,000 – 85,000	About 5000 Jews from various Polish ghettos, including Mljawa, Makow, Zichenow, Lomzsa, Grodno, Byalistok. Transports arrived continuously for thirty days. Only 5000 persons were assigned to camp; the remainder was gassed immediately. The Sonderkommandos worked feverishly in two shifts twenty-four hours a day, but they could hardly cope with the task of gassing and burning. It can be estimated without exaggeration that between 80,000 and 90,000 persons were exterminated. These transports brought with them particularly large sums of [Polish?] money, foreign currency, and precious stones.
c. 85,000 – 92,000	6000 Jews from Grodno, Byalistok, and Cracow, and an additional 1000 Gentile Poles. The large majority of the Jews went to the birchwood directly. An average of 4000 Jews were driven into the gas chamber daily.
	In the middle of January 1943, three transports of 2000 persons each arrived from Teresin [Theresienstadt Czechoslovakia]. The markings of these transports were, "CU", "CR", and "R", which were incomprehensible to us. All parcels belonging to these transports were similarly marked. Of these 6000 persons, only 600 men and 300 women were sent to the camp, the remainder being gassed.
c. 99,000 (sic) – 100,000	Large Dutch and French Jewish transports arrived at the end of January 1943. Only a fraction went to the camp, the remainder being gassed.
c. 100,000 – 102,000	2000 Gentile Poles, mostly intellectuals, arrived in February 1943.
c. 102,000 – 103,000	700 Gentile Czechs, the survivors of whom were later sent to Buchenwald.
c. 103,000-108,000	3000 French and Dutch Jews and 2000 Gentile Poles.

An average of two transports of Polish, French, and Dutch Jews arrived daily during February 1943. In most cases entire transports were gassed. The number of those gassed in this month alone can be estimated at about 90,000.