Theresienstadt
The Danish Jews who had not been able to escape the arrests of 1943 had been deported to Theresienstadt, near the city of Terezín in today's Czech Republic. It required patience before the Germans gave permission to proceed and time was short; the Allies were approaching. In the end the German liaison officer, Rennau, managed to get authorization from the Gestapo and on April 12 a column set-out under the command of Captain Folke with 23 Swedish buses, 12 private cars, motorcycles and a number of Danish ambulances with Danish doctors and nurses.
The situation in Germany was now critical and the Swedish drivers were informed that the trip would be very dangerous. At the last minute the Swedish foreign department tried to stop the departure as they had been informed that Soviet forces had blocked the road, but the column departed. On April 15 the column had collected 423 Scandinavian Jews from Theresienstadt and could start on the perilous return journey. On the way back the column passed Dresden, which had been bombed a month before and had an overnight stop near Potsdam, which had been bombed the same night. The transport reached Padborg without casualties on April 17. The next day, the rescued Jews were transported by ferry to Malmö.
The first air attack against the "white buses" happened on April 18 when the Danish camp at Friedrichsruh was strafed by Allied fighter planes, four drivers and a nurse were slightly wounded, ten vehicles were destroyed. In the coming days several such attacks from the air occurred, several personnel were killed and wounded.
Read more about this topic: White Buses