(JEWISH GROUP) First transport of Jewish women to Auschwitz explored in doc from director inspired by abolitionists

[Behind the Aegis]

First transport of Jewish women to Auschwitz explored in doc from director inspired by abolitionist ancestors

More than eight decades ago, a train filled with nearly 1,000 unmarried young Jewish women from Slovakia arrived at the gates of Auschwitz. The women had been told they were being sent to work to help support their families who had lost their means of income due to the anti-semitic legislation that was sweeping the region.

In reality, these women were a part of the first official transport of Jewish people to the concentration camp where approximately one million people were killed — most of them Jews.

“This is the first transport sent to Auschwitz by Office IV B 4 of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA),” the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum explains. “This office, led by Adolf Eichmann, is responsible for coordinating the deportation of Jews from much of Europe to killing centers.”

Now, nearly 84 years later, their stories are being told in 999: The Forgotten Girls — a film based on a book written by director Heather Dune Macadam that first premiered in 2023. This year, in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, which marks the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the movie is being screened in New York City and L.A. to pay tribute to the women.

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