Raul Hilberg on Death Trains

 Image: U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Box Car 

 Raul Hilberg  (1926 – 2007) was one of the most important historians of the Holocaust of the postwar era; for decades, his  The Destruction of the European Jews , first published in 1961, constituted the preeminent work in the field. By beginning with the small questions, traceable in the documents, Hilberg gradually built up an interpretation that emphasized Nazi bureaucrats as ruthless, inventive killers. Moreover, he advanced this interpretation when few historians wrote about the Holocaust at all.

The interpretation powerfully influenced  Hannah Arendt 's famous work,  Eichmann in Jerusalem , even if the philosopher did not acknowledge the influence. It also influenced one of the greatest documentary films of the twentieth century:  Claude Lanzmann 's 9 1/2 hour  Shoah , released in 1985, after more than eleven years work. See the film's  official trailer .

Trains as part of the machinery of destruction: this concept was central to both Hilberg and Lanzmann.  Here  they discuss the deportation system as well as Scheduling Order 587.  

You may also just read the transcripts of the interview.

 Transcript of Hilberg Interview 1 

 Transcript of Hilberg Interview 2 

In this interview, Raul Hilberg interprets Scheduling Order (Fahrplananordnung) 587. In the transcript, the discussion of this document begins at the bottom of p. 24.

The document originates from the Krakow office of the General Direction of the Eastern Railroads (Ostbahn). 33H, according to Hilberg, designates the office number in which the document was written, while "H" means it was written by a "Hilfsarbeiter," or auxiliary personnel. Of special interest is its level of secrecy: "Only for Internal Use" (Nur für den Dienstgebrauch). Hilberg points out that this is a very low classification for secrecy, and that none of the "Scheduling Orders" display the word "secret," either written or stamped.

The train itself is labeled either PKr or Lp Kr followed by consecutive numbers beginning with 9220, then 9228. PKr (and Pj), according to Hilberg, stands for "Jewish Sonderzüge (special trains) assembled in the Generalgouvernment" of Poland (Hilberg, Destruction of the European Jews, vol. 2, 432).

Scheduled to depart on September 30, 1942 from the Polish town of Sedziszow, the train, according to the scheduling order, wends its way with agonizing slowness towards Treblinka. The Locomotive pulls 50 freight cars and two third class cars. We know from other documents that upon arrival in the death camp, the Jews who are still alive are ripped out of the freight cars. We also know that within hours the Nazis kill almost everyone on the train; they send the Jewish men to the gas chambers first, then the Jewish women and children. From the scheduling order, we can see that the empty train (Leerzug) is sent to another community: Szydłowiec.

There, as we know from other sources, another "liquidation" occured. The sentence is easily written, yet it obfuscates so much. The resistance to the liquidation was fierce, as we known from  testimonies of survivors . Hundreds, if not thousands, ran, hid, and threw stones and bottles.

Still, the Nazis had superior force. They shipped the Jews of this community through the cities of Radom, Deblin, Lukow, Siedlce, and to Treblinka, as we see from the scheduling order. The train then returns to Szydłowiec, and again Jews are put in freight cars, and sent, via the same route, to Treblinka.

Then the train returns to another town: Kozienice. And the process is repeated. The Nazis send the Jews to Treblinka, and kill them there. Then the train, with its empty freight cars, drives to Częstochowa, arriving on September 29. 1942. In its very last sentence, Scheduling Order 587 tell us: "In Częstochowa, the train is to be temporarily parked," and that "orders for its further utilization will follow." But we know that between September 22 and October 8, 1942, the liquidation and deportation of the "large Ghetto" at Częstochowa is in full swing.