Confidential Instructions for the Mayors of the Ghetto Centers Concerning the Deportation of the Hungarian Jews

On May [illegible] a meeting was held at the police headquarters of Munkacs under the chairmanship of Gendarmerie Lieutenant-Colonel Laszlo Ferenczy, with the participation of Gendarmerie Captain Dr. Laszlo Uray and Gestapo Captain Dr. Marton Zoldi on the part of the Germans.

The meeting discussed the removal of the Jews that will begin on May 14.

An exception will be made for Jews of foreign citizenship, namely British, American, Polish, Russian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Slovak, Finnish, Swiss, Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese, and Turkish citizens, who are to be removed in advance and placed in police custody so that they will not witness the removal of the others.

The Jews will be transported in 110 trains to the station at Kassa where the transports will be taken over by the German Police. Marking (on the trains): “D.A. Umsiedler” [German Worker Resettlement].

Each train will transport 3,000 persons. It will consist of 45 cars, each with 70 persons plus baggage, and two C cars at the front and the back of the train for the guards.

The commander of the loading station will be a German or a Hungarian gendarmerie officer; this will require that the stationmaster make available cars and loading areas, at a place removed from the station, five hours in advance.

The Jews will be able to take along only limited luggage, and no beds or mattresses. Name lists are to be prepared in duplicate. One copy is to remain with the transport and the other copy is to be sent to the police headquarters at Munkacs for the commander of the loading area.

If the train leaves at night, the Jews must be loaded during the day. The gendarmerie will supervise the transfer from the camp to the station, and the police will guard the street crossings. The area will have been closed off previously by the gendarmerie and the streets by the police; the same procedure is to be followed at the loading site.

The camp, ghetto, and road are to be under strict guard; the road is to be closed to traffic while the Jews are marched. They are to be marched in groups of 500, walking four in a row. The seriously ill and their relatives are to be taken to the site as part of the last group. There will be a hospital train with a doctor and nurse, which will also hold the members of the Jewish Council and persons of doubtful citizenship.

Shelter [workers] and labor servicemen, and physicians and pharmacists, will also be included.

With respect to the labor servicemen, the Ministry of Defense will take separate action.

The number of persons in a filled car will be marked in chalk on the outside of the car.

In each car, one person will be selected as Council member and will be in charge of acquisition of water, etc.

Mayoral responsibility

The persons to be transported are to be supplied with bread for two days. The two days supply per person is 400 grams. Taking along of additional food is prohibited. During the day of loading, coffee for the trip will be distributed in the camp kitchens; if this is not possible, the transport must be supplied with water. The bread is to be provided and delivered by the Mayor.

The Mayor will also see to it that each car is provided with a covered bucket (for sanitary purposes) and with a can suitable for drinking water.

It is the responsibility of the Mayor to supply 90 locks with keys per transport, possibly with the help of the Council.

It should be remembered that the transports will also include German cars which cannot be locked unless a 30-centimeter chain is first used, which will then be locked.

The Mayor will also see to the provision of chalk for marking the wagons.

It is also his responsibility to provide keychains and tags on which the number of the car can be identified.

The transfer and takeover of the transports will take place at Kassa; rollcall is not to take place.

Mayors task: After removal of the inmates, camp locations are to be disinfected by the Administrative authorities (military physician).

During the transfer, individual additions and actions are to be avoided.

Dr. Uray: If necessary, as many as 100 may be put in a car. They can be loaded like sardines, since the Germans require hardy people. Those who cannot take it will perish. There is no need in Germany for ladies of fashion.

Nagybanya schedule:
May 30, 8 P.M. to 2 A.M.
June 11, 2 P.M. to 2 A.M.

Discussion:

Pal Szehor, Mayor of Nyiregyhaza: Not a single Jew should be left behind. Let them all go.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ferenczy: Only absolutely indispensable physicians and their families are to be left behind. These will be identified by the German advisers, who can do this expertly; they know how to do this and the selection will be their responsibility.

Christians who, on appeal, return within 48 hours anything accepted from Jews, will be exempted from the consequence of internment, etc.

Source: R. Braham, "The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary," Vol. I, New York, 1981, pp. 667-669.

Source: Yad Vashem - Eclipse of Humanity