Sobibor - Holocaust Propaganda And Reality - Unity of Nobility ...

J. GRAF, T. KUES, C. MATTOGNO, SOBIBÓR 295
end of August/beginning of September, which can contain Jews of
every kind (also Jews unfit for work and old Jews).”
We must remember that, according to the official German position at
that time, Auschwitz was not located in the General Government but
was part of the Reich. On the other hand, during these weeks deportations
to Auschwitz were continuing without interruption: in fact, 14
transports of Jews reached this camp between 17 and 31 July, with 4
coming from Holland, 2 from Slovakia, 7 from France, and one of unknown
origin. 896 Hence, the 6 transports mentioned above, which
should have contained children and physically unfit adults, did not have
Auschwitz as their destination.
Later on the RSHA decided on a different course. On 13 August
1942, SS-Sturmbannführer Rolf Günther sent a cable to the SS authorities
in Paris concerning “Deportation of Jews to Auschwitz. Here: removal
of Jewish children,” in which he advised that the Jewish children
held in the camps at Pithiviers and Beaune-la-Rolande could be deported
to Auschwitz a few at a time as part of the scheduled transports,
but that there were to be no transports involving only children. 897 This
had been decreed by the RSHA, obviously for reasons of propaganda. It
was therefore decided to mix the Jewish children from the camps at Pithiviers
and Beaune-la-Rolande with adults in such a way that “300 to
500 Jewish children will be assigned to 700, but at least 500, adult
Jews.” 898
A first transport comprising a certain percentage of children (about
10% of the total) 899 arrived at Auschwitz on 14 August 1942, even
though the plan agreed upon on 28 July 1942 had specified 19 August
for the departure of the first train with Jewish children on board (these
children had been arrested in Paris on 16 and 17 July), with another
three for 21, 24, and 26 August. 900
These documents demonstrate clearly the initial intention of the SS
to move children and old people to the General Government, at first directly
to and later via Auschwitz as a transit camp.
896
897
898
899
900
D. Czech, op. cit. (note 825), pp. 250-262.
CDJC, XXVb-126.
RF-1234.
S. Klarsfeld, op. cit. (note 75), table showing the transports as a function of the age of the
deportees.
S. Klarsfeld, Vichy-Auschwitz. Le rôle de Vichy dans la solutione finale de la question
juive en France, 1942, Fayard, Paris 1983, pp. 292-294. Facsimile of part of the original
document in: S. Klarsfeld, op. cit. (note 75), page concerning convoy No. 11.