Umschlagplatz

Umschlagplatz (collection point or reloading point) is a common, neutral, technical term denoting a place where all goods for rail transport are handled, without any special connotation. In the Third Reich, the term Umschlagplatz was appropriated by the Nazi Party to denote holding areas set up by Nazi Germany adjacent to railway stations in occupied Poland, where the ghettoised Jews were assembled for deportation to death camps during the ghetto liquidation. The largest such collection point consisted of a city square in occupied Warsaw next to the Warsaw Ghetto, used for several months during daily deportations of 254000 – 265000 Warsaw Jews to the Treblinka extermination camp. A monument was erected in 1988 on Stawki Street, where the Umschlagplatz was located, to commemorate the deportation victims.