The Strange Case of Internal German Deportations
(Deportations to Halle, Germany)

This database contains information on 143 Jews who were moved in 1939 from German towns close to the French Border to Halle, Germany.

Background

This collection contains one of the most unusual name lists I have ever come across.  A series of lists, beginning in September 1939 and running until the end of that year, under the heading of "Liste der Rueckwanderer aus Westdeutschland" (List of Returnees from West Germany) enumerates Jews shipped from areas close to the French border (Baden, the Palatinate and Saarland) to Halle where they were housed in various private homes scattered throughout Halle.  These 143 persons included men and women and virtually every age group, from children to persons in their 80s, as well as Kriegsinvaliden (invalids from World War I).  Some were born outside Germany and listed as stateless, but most were listed as German citizens.

Handwritten notes on the lists indicate that these persons were sometimes permitted to return to the towns from whence they came, while others went elsewhere, such as Berlin or Munich.  Many were later deported to Auschwitz and other camps, but not from Halle.

They were certainly not "returnees" in any sense.  None of those listed were born in Halle and few were born in Eastern Germany.  My guess is that it was decided that Jews should be evacuated from "sensitive" areas near the French border, though why this policy continued to the end of the year is a mystery to me, particularly since the Halle "deportations" only involved a small percentage of Jews in these areas.  In the early years, deportations from Southwest Germany were generally sent to France, e.g. Gurs, so there is no apparent reason why these persons were sent eastward.

The information in this list consists of family name, given name, date and place of birth, and last place of residence.  The material itself includes street addresses in both the town of former residence and in Halle as well as the exact date of arrival in 1939 in Halle.  There are also handwritten notations by some names indicating where individuals went from Halle, sometimes back to the towns from whence they came and sometimes elsewhere.  A comparison of these names with the Gedenkbuch indicates that most were ultimately deported, but none from Halle.

Database

This database includes 143 records of those who were sent to Halle.  The fields for this database are as follows:

• Surname
• Maiden Name
• Given Name
• Date of Birth
• Place of Birth
• Last Residency
• Related Family Members

Acknowledgments

The information contained in this database was indexed from the files of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), RG 14.034M, reel 2.  For more information, please contact the Museum.

In addition, thanks to JewishGen Inc. for providing the website and database expertise to make this database accessible.  Special thanks to Warren Blatt and Michael Tobias for their continued contributions to Jewish genealogy.  Particular thanks to Nolan Altman, coordinator of Holocaust files.

Nolan Altman
Coordinator - Holocaust Database
May 2010

Searching the Database

This database is searchable via JewishGen's Holocaust Database and the JewishGen Germany Database.