Deportations in the Nazi Era: Sources and Research

During the Nazi era, about three million Jews – half the victims of the Holocaust – were deported from the German Reich, the occupied territories, as well as Nazi-allied countries, and sent to ghettos, camps, and extermination centers. The police and the SS also deported tens of thousands of Sinti and Roma, mainly to the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp, where most of them were killed. Deportations were central to National Socialist persecution and extermination. In November 2020, an international conference organized by the Arolsen Archives focused on the various historical sources, their research potential, and (digital) methods of cataloging them. It also explored new (systematizing and comparative) approaches in historical research. This volume features over 20 contributions by scholars from different countries and with a variety of perspectives and questions. The main geographical focus is on deportations from the German Reich and German-occupied Southeastern Europe.

Frontmatter --; Table of Contents --; Foreword by Floriane Azoulay --; Foreword by Sigmount A. Königsberg --; Foreword by Petra Rosenberg --; Deportations in the Nazi Era – Introduction --; Archival Sources, Online Portals and Approaches --; Sources on Deportations --; An Overview of Sources on Deportations of Jews and Sinti and Roma in the Arolsen Archives --; Potential of Databases for Research and Culture of Remembrance Using the Deportation of Jews under the Nazi Regime as an Example --; Deutsche Reichsbahn and Deportation --; Interaction, Confusion and Potential --; Discussing Visual Sources of Deportations from Germany --; A Deceptive Panorama --; Deportations from the Perspective of the Remaining Jews and the Surrounding Population --; Racial Registrations, Forced Housing, and Local Deportation Dynamics --; The ‘Prevention Department’ within the Criminal Police --; ‘Gypsies’ in the Police Eye --; Forced Accommodation for Jews in the Context of the Deportations at the Düsseldorf Abattoir (1939–1944) --; Gerlachstraße Assembly Camp in Berlin, 1942 to 1943 --; The Fate of ‘Protected’ Groups during the Last Years of the War --; “Put My Mother on the List Too!” – Reconstructing the Deportation Lists of the Szeged Jewish Community --; Trajectories of Deportation and Subsequent Persecution --; The Deportation of Sinti and Roma from Hamburg and Northern Germany to the Belzec Forced Labour Camp in the ‘Generalgouvernement’ of 1940 --; Deportation Train ‘Da 32’ from Nuremberg and its 1,012 Occupants --; Mapping Jewish Slave Laborers’ Trajectories Through Concentration Camps --; Escaping the Death Train --; The DEGOB Protocols and the Deportations of Jewish Prisoners to the Dachau Camp Complex --; After the Arrival in Ghettos and other Deportation Destinations --; Deportations of Jews to the Ghetto of Litzmannstadt (Łódź) --; Looking for the Money --; Preparations for and Organization of the Transports from Terezín to Auschwitz-Birkenau in September 1943 --; The Petitions of Roma Deportees as a Source for the Study of the Deportation Sites in Transnistria --; ‘Aktion Zamosc’ and its Entanglements with the Holocaust --; Contributors