Kolo

In December 1940 a ghetto was set up for the remaining 2000 Jews in Kolo. Previously, Jews from Kolo had been deported to ghettos in the General government, including the ghetto in Izbica. In December, 1941, local Nazis decided that Jews from Kolo would be murdered because they were no longer needed as slave labor. They were deported by train to Powiercie and from there either by truck or on foot to the newly established extermination camp, Chelmno, about ten kilometres east of Kolo. The Jews were the first to be killed in Chelmno. From a logistical perspective, the station in Kolo became a hub for Jews who were to be deported to Chelmno. The Jews deported by train to Kolo from other ghettos within the Wartheland (administrative area incorporated into Germany in 1939) were forced to change trains in Kolo. The reason was that the track gauge from Kolo and further towards Chelmno was narrower. The synagogue in Kolo became an overnight place for Jews who arrived in Kolo late in the evening and too dark to continue to Chelmno. The synagogue was located about two kilometers from the station and the Jews were often forced to walk back and forth to the station.