The Deportation Journeys of the Holocaust

Roughly three million Jews were transported to extermination centers by train during the Holocaust.[1] Nearly all who boarded deportation trains were unaware of the fate that awaited them; and for most, fate meant death in a gas chamber.[2] Some, however, did survive. This paper is about that experience. It is a significant endeavor to study the accounts of Holocaust survivors, for through it, one is reminded of how much the victims endured, and that it truly happened—it happened to real individuals at a real time in history. And as they are remembered, may they be rightfully honored. Alfred Mierzejewski, The Most Valuable Asset of the Reich: A History of the German National Railway, 1933-1945 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2000), 115. Roughly three million Jews were transported to extermination centers by train during the Holocaust. Nearly all who boarded deportation trains were unaware of the fate that awaited them; and for most, fate meant death in a gas chamber. Some, however, did survive. This paper is about that experience. It is a significant endeavor to study the accounts of Holocaust survivors, for through it, one is reminded of how much the victims endured, and that it truly happened—it happened to real individuals at a real time in history. And as they are remembered, may they be rightfully honored