Auschwitz's First Transport: Remembering the Victims 85 Years On

On June 14th, 1940, the first mass transport arrived at Auschwitz concentration camp. Among the 728 prisoners, a significant number were Polish political prisoners seeking to join the Polish armed forces forming in France. This event is commemorated annually as the National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camps. Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum held ceremonies, and similar commemorations took place across Poland, including Gdańsk's Zaspa Cemetery, where Stutthof victims are buried. Karol Wardański, a survivor of the Polulice camp, shared his memories: "Hunting for bedbugs was daily, as was the constant fear. Even children were sent into the forest to gather berries and mushrooms for the Germans. You couldn't even touch a berry, otherwise, you'd be beaten." Of the initial transport to Auschwitz, only 239 survived the war. The day serves as a poignant reminder of the millions of lives lost in the Nazi camps.