Kolín

The boy’s school in Ovčárecká Street in the Zálabí suburb of Kolín was used as the assembly point for Jews from the Kolín Oberlandrat district prior to their deportation to Terezín. The building was chosen for its size and for its proximity to the Kolín–Zálabí railway station. At the beginning of June 1942, a Jewish transit camp was established at the Zálabí school. It was headed by SS-Hauptscharführer Fiedler from the Prague Central Office for Jewish Emigration (Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung in Prag). Police duties were carried out by a twelve-member guard under the leadership of one commander. The Jews spent two or three nights at the assembly point, sleeping on the bare floors of the empty classrooms. The Kolín transports were organized during the period of repression following the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich.

Three transports (designated by the letters AAb, Aac, and Aad) were dispatched on 5, 9 and 13 June 1942. Shortly after arriving in Terezín, or immediately after pulling into the station at Bohušovice nad Ohří, a large number of the deportees were put on the next transport to the East. In total, 2,206 people were deported from the Kolín assembly point. Only 135 of them lived to see the liberation.