Double-door railroad freight car with brakeman’s cabin of the type used to transport victims throughout the Nazi camp system

The Deutsche Reichsbahn, (DR, German National Railway) was formed from the nationalization and merger of the remaining independent German railway systems with the Deutscher Staatsbahnwagenverband (DSV, German State Railway Wagon Association) in 1920. Before nationalization, the German railways developed independently in each state, and utilized different standards that quickly became a problem as the systems became interconnected. To combat this, in 1909, the majority of the independent lines formed the DSV to standardize designs and allow easier access between rail lines. On April 1, 1920, the final outlying rail lines were brought into the fold and the system was nationalized by the German government. In 1924, under the Dawes Plan, the DR was reorganized as a state-owned company outside of the government.

After Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor in 1933, the Reichsbahn was reformed as a tool to help implement the Nazi agenda. The Reichsbahn’s role was expanded to assist with job creation, infrastructural improvements, and military logistical needs. It became one of the largest organizations in Nazi Germany, with over 1.4 million personnel and hundreds of thousands of indigenous workers in occupied territories. When Germany was at war, the Reichsbahn transported troops and industrial cargo, soldiers on furlough, vacationers, foreign laborers, and Jews. Deportations of Jews began immediately after the conquest of Poland in 1939, and millions of Europe's Jewish citizens were transported through the camp system, and eventually to killing centers in German-occupied Poland.

To save locomotives and to reduce the total number of transports, the trains were lengthened and the cars loaded beyond capacity. Generally, the SS attempted to fill a deportation train with one thousand people. However, over time two thousand people became the standard. Coaches were reserved only for guards, while Jews were packed in freight cars with doors, approximately eighty per car. At times, there was less than two square feet per person. The overpacked trains reduced the locomotive’s speed, and circuitous routes were used to avoid congestion, which only lengthened the travel time. During transport, Jews were given buckets to use as toilets, which frequently overflowed. They were denied food and water, and many deportees died before the trains reached their destinations. Armed guards shot anyone trying to escape. The freight cars were not heated or cooled, and Jews had to endure suffocating heat in the summer or freezing temperatures in winter.

Payment to the Reichsbahn for transport was handled by the Reich Security Main Office headed by Adolf Eichmann. On February 20, 1941, Eichmann accepted responsibility for the transport costs in the incorporated Polish territories on behalf of the Main Office. Third class passenger fare was the base rate for a deportee; children under ten traveled at half fare, and those under four traveled free. Special group fares of half the third class rate were offered if at least four hundred people were being shipped. On the return trips from the east, the freight cars carried belongings of the dead from camps to Germany for redistribution.

Additionally, the Reichsbahn used the slave labor of prisoners of war (POWs), concentration camp prisoners, and foreign forced laborers to construct and repair railway lines, unload equipment, and dig trenches. The prisoners were forced to work at multiple camps and subcamps throughout Germany and its occupied territories including: Buchenwald, Dachau, Flossenbürg, Mauthausen, Neuengamme, Riga-Kaiserwald, and Stutthof.

The Mittelstahl Company located in Gröditz, Germany, was part of the Flick Concern, a group of industrial enterprises owned by Friedrich Flick. Flick was a leading financial supporter of the Nazi party and friend of Heinrich Himmler. The Flick industrial plants in Gröditz employed thousands of foreign slave laborers, prisoners of war (POWs), and concentration camp prisoners. The concentration camp prisoners were denied adequate rations, living conditions, medical care, and were forced through punishment to meet high work performance expectations. In March, 1945, a typhus outbreak claimed the lives of many prisoners. In April, the prisoners were sent on a forced marched out of Gröditz away from approaching Allied forces. On April 17, 184 prisoners who were deemed unfit to march were executed. In April 1947, Flick was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity by an American military tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany. Although he was sentenced to seven years in prison, he was released after three.