The Jewish Diaspora

Forced deportation

Deportations of the Holocaust

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1941–1945 CEPoland (Crown lands) → Poland (Crown lands)

Why it happened

At an undetermined point in 1941, Hitler authorized the Europe-wide mass-murder policy the Nazis called the 'Final Solution.'1 The Wannsee Conference of 20 January 1942 did not originate that policy; it coordinated implementation across German agencies. Heydrich said roughly 11 million European Jews would fall under it.1

The migration

Between December 1941 and July 1942 the SS and police established five killing centers in German-occupied Poland—Chełmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka II, and Auschwitz-Birkenau.2 Jews from Germany and occupied Europe were deported by rail to these sites.2 German forces deported about 265,000 Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to Treblinka between 22 July and 21 September 1942.3 Under Operation Reinhard, personnel murdered about 1.5 million Jews at Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka and about 1.7 million when related mass shootings are included.4 Between March 1942 and December 1944, German authorities deported about 1.1 million Jews to Auschwitz-Birkenau.2 The US Holocaust Memorial Museum estimates Jewish victims at approximately 925,000 at Treblinka II, 435,000 at Belzec, at least 167,000 at Sobibor, at least 152,000 at Chełmno, and approximately 1,000,000 in the Auschwitz camp complex.5 In all, six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.5 The map line is schematic: deportations originated across Europe and led to multiple killing sites, not a single Warsaw-to-Auschwitz route.

Sources

  1. BUnited States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 2026. The Wannsee Conference and the "Final Solution". Holocaust Encyclopedia (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) link
  2. BUnited States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 2022. Deportations to Killing Centers. Holocaust Encyclopedia (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) link
  3. BUnited States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 2023. Warsaw. Holocaust Encyclopedia (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) link
  4. BUnited States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 2021. Operation Reinhard (Einsatz Reinhard). Holocaust Encyclopedia (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) link
  5. BUnited States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 2023. Documenting Numbers of Victims of the Holocaust and Nazi Persecution. Holocaust Encyclopedia (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) link