Page 95 - Centrum Dialogu im. Marka Edelmana w Łodzi. Zofia Lubińska-Rosset - "Okruchy Pamięci".

After being loaded into the so-called cattle wagons, we started
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our journey deep into Germany .

Concentration Camps

It was a terribly tormenting journey. According to the availa-
ble documents, we travelled for up to 3 days. For me, the passing
hours were endless. The wagon was extremely cramped, it was hard
to breathe. How the physiological needs were taken care of in these
conditions I can only guess, recalling the growing, unbearable
stench, with many people suffering from diarrhea. After many
hours of travel, the train stopped and all the men, my Dad among
them, were ordered to get off. We saw them brutally hustled by
armed German soldiers. Later I learned that the place where we
were separated was called Oranienburg .
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The vast majority of studies about the Lodz ghetto known to me mention August 29th,
1944 as the date of the last transport. From the certificate I have been issued by the
International Tracing Office in Arolsen it appears that my Mom and I were imprisoned
in the Ravensbrück concentration camp on October 22nd, 1944. The existing archive
data do not include the date of departure of the transport from the Lodz ghetto. J. Poz-
nanski in his memoirs entitled Dziennik z łódzkiego getta (A Diary from the Lodz Ghetto,
Warsaw, 2002), on p. 244 says that the evacuation of the camp at 36 Lagiewnicka St. took
place on a Saturday morning, October 21st, 1944. In turn, M. Margulies (AŻIH, ref. no
391/462) gives the date of departure on October 19th, 1944 (quoted according to M.
Miller, Europa według Auschwitz. Litzmannstadt Ghetto (Europe According to Auschwitz.
Litzmannstadt Ghetto", Oswiecim 2009, p. 448).
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The concentration camp in Oranienburg (KZ Oranienburg) was situated about 30 km
north of Berlin, KZ Sachsenhausen was built nearby. The men from the October
transport were located there.

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