Jakob Meer - Deported with Sofie from Vienna to Opatow on March 12 1941

Opatów / Lagów

On March 12, 1941, 997 Jews were deported from Vienna's Aspang train station to Opatów and Lagów, two neighboring small towns east of Kielce.

Opatów had a high proportion of Jews in the population, which increased further as a result of deportations and forced resettlements. According to witness statements, some of the Viennese deportees had to live in mass quarters in stable buildings after their arrival, but were free to move around the town during the day. From July 1941, young Jews able to work were sent to labor camps. They were used as forced laborers for road construction and quarry work or in an engine factory. The number of ghetto residents increased steadily: in September 1942 about 7000 people lived in the ghetto, many of whom died as a result of malnutrition and typhus.

In the course of the liquidation of the ghetto, which took place on October 22-22, 1942, 6,000 people were deported to the Treblinka extermination camp and 500 to 600 Jews were sent to the Sandomierz labor camp. Several hundred people were shot in the ghetto during this "action". A few Jews had to clean the ghetto and sort the belongings left behind. They were later shot in the ghetto cemetery.

No statements can be made about the situation of the Austrian deportees in Lagów due to insufficient sources. The Lagów ghetto was fenced off with barbed wire in March 1942. On October 7, 1942, the ghett residents were rounded up by the SS, Ukrainian and Polish police and the sick, old and many children were shot; around 2,000 people were deported to the Treblinka extermination camp on October 27. (1)

Of the 997 Austrian Jews who were deported to Opatów or Lagów, only eleven survivors could be identified.

"Unfree, unhappy people..." – Antonie and Adolf Diamant

"5 min. before 12" – Philipp, Frida and Gerhard Justitz, Samuel and Malvine Mandl

https://www.doew.at/erinnern/fotos-und-dokumente/1938-1945/nachrich...