White Buses - Transports Start

Transports Start

The expedition in Friedrichsruh was divided into two groups, the first being assigned the responsibility of transporting prisoners from Sachsenhausen, (North of Berlin), to Neuengamme. The evacuations started on March 15, over a distance of around 540 kilometers. During seven missions, some 2,200 Danes and Norwegians were transferred to Neuengamme.

Sven Frykmann, who commanded one of the columns, wrote about the prisoners and the drive:

In general they were in relative good shape compared to other prisoners I have seen and one could not complain regarding their personal hygiene. They related that the food packs they had received from Norway and Denmark had kept their spirits up and recently the treatment had been noticeably better. They were all touching thankful and happy. I believe that all of us that have had the option of helping these poor people in Germany have experienced such an overwhelming gratitude that it is enough for the rest of our lives

As the prisoners were being picked up in Sachsenhausen, their names were checked with the group from Gross Kreutz, to make sure no one was left behind.

The other group was responsible for collecting prisoners from southern Germany. This included Dachau to the north of Munich, Schönberg (some 80 kilometers south of Stuttgart) and Mauthausen (12 kilometers/7.5 miles east of Linz). The distances for this mission were greater, as Munich alone was 800 kilometers (500 mi) away. Adding to the difficulties was the delay that the transports faced due to a lack of fuel. The first column started out on March 19, including 35 vehicles under Colonel Björck, which returned to Neuengamme on March 24. The journey back was difficult as most of the prisoners were in poor physical condition, as Swedish nurse Margaretha Björcke documented:

I have never in my twelve years practice as a nurse seen so much misery as I here witnessed. Legs, backs and necks full of wounds of a type that an average Swede would be on sick leave for just one of them. I counted twenty on one prisoner, and he did not complain

This first transport collected 550 prisoners while 67 very sick prisoners were left behind. A huge problem during the transports was the prisoners' chronic diarrhoea. This situation was subsequently remedied by the Danes supplying portable toilets of a type that had been used during their transports.

Due to the Swedish transports Neuengamme received ever more prisoners and the concentration of Scandinavian prisoners that Himmler had promised did not materialize. Swedish health personnel were not allowed to enter the camp. During the first transports the buses were not allowed to enter the camp and the prisoners had to march to them as the Germans would not let the Swedes in charge of the buses see the camp.