The deportation of the Seiler family

On 20 April 1942, the Seiler family was taken from the 6th district of Vienna to the 2nd district (Leopoldstadt), where they were quartered in the collection camp in Kleine Sperlgasse. The conditions in the former school building where they were housed were poor, but the family nevertheless held on to the hope that they would soon be able to leave the country.

"We were told at that time that the Jews in the East would be given the opportunity to create a new existence for themselves. For this purpose, one should take tools and everything one owns." [1]

The deportation of the family followed less than two and a half weeks later. The Seilers were transported from Vienna to Volkovysk, now a town in Belarus, in passenger trains. However, upon arriving in Volkovysk at night, the deportees had to change to cattle cars.

Source:

[1] so-called Seiler report, p. 2.