Operation
The three-storey block that completely surrounded a large square yard, became fitted with barbed wire. The camp staff was mostly German, assisted by Belgian auxiliaries of the Algemeene-SS Vlaanderen (General SS Flanders). It was officially under the command of Philipp Schmitt, commandant of the Breendonk prison and transit camp. The acting commandant at Mechelen was SS officer Rudolph Steckmann.
The first group of people arrived in the camp from Antwerp on 27 July 1942. Between August and December 1942, two transports with about 1,000 Jews each left the camp every week for Auschwitz-Birkenau. Between the 4 August 1942 and 31 July 1944, a total of 28 trains left Mechelen for Poland, carrying 24,916 Jews and 351 Roma; most of them went to Auschwitz-Birkenau. This figure represented more than half of the Belgian Jews murdered during the Holocaust. In line with the Nazi horror policy that much later became named the Porajmos (or Samudaripen), 351 Roma were sent to Auschwitz early 1944.
Transports | Date | Men | Boys | Women | Girls | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Transport 1 | 4 August 1942 | 544 | 28 | 403 | 23 | 998 |
Transport 2 | 11 August 1942 | 459 | 25 | 489 | 26 | 999 |
Transport 3 | 15 June 1942 | 380 | 48 | 522 | 50 | 1000 |
Transport 4 | 18 August 1942 | 339 | 133 | 415 | 112 | 999 |
Transport 5 | 25 August 1942 | 397 | 88 | 429 | 81 | 995 |
Transport 6 | 29 August 1942 | 355 | 60 | 531 | 54 | 1000 |
Transport 7 | 1 September 1942 | 282 | 163 | 401 | 154 | 1000 |
Transport 8 | 10 September 1942 | 388 | 111 | 403 | 98 | 1000 |
Transport 9 | 12 September 1942 | 408 | 91 | 401 | 100 | 1000 |
Transport 10 | 15 September 1942 | 405 | 132 | 414 | 97 | 1048 |
Transport 11 | 26 September 1942 | 562 | 231 | 713 | 236 | 1742 |
Transport 12 | 10 October 1942 | 310 | 135 | 423 | 131 | 999 |
Transport 13 | 10 October 1942 | 228 | 89 | 259 | 99 | 675 |
Transport 14 | 24 October 1942 | 324 | 112 | 438 | 121 | 995 |
Transport 15 | 24 October 1942 | 314 | 30 | 93 | 39 | 476 |
Transport 16 | 31 October 1942 | 686 | 16 | 94 | 27 | 823 |
Transport 17 | 31 October 1942 | 629 | 45 | 169 | 32 | 875 |
Transport 18 | 15 January 1943 | 353 | 105 | 424 | 65 | 947 |
Transport 19 | 15 January 1943 | 239 | 51 | 270 | 52 | 612 |
Transport 20 | 19 April 1943 | 463 | 115 | 699 | 127 | 1404 |
Transport 21 | 31 July 1943 | 672 | 103 | 707 | 71 | 1553 |
Transport 22a | 20 September 1943 | 291 | 39 | 265 | 36 | 631 |
Transport 22b | 20 September 1943 | 305 | 74 | 351 | 64 | 794 |
Transport 23 | 15 January 1944 | 307 | 33 | 293 | 22 | 655 |
Transport Z | 15 January 1944 | 85 | 91 | 101 | 74 | 351 |
transport 24 | 4 April 1944 | 303 | 29 | 275 | 18 | 625 |
transport 25 | 19 May 1944 | 237 | 20 | 230 | 21 | 508 |
transport 26 | 31 July 1944 | 280 | 15 | 251 | 17 | 563 |
Total | August 1942 – July 1944 | 10,545 | 2,212 | 10,463 | 2,047 | 25,267 |
Read more about this topic: Mechelen Transit Camp
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