The nucleus of the Transport Department was Cattle Breeding, formed on September 12, 1940, after the Plantation Department was dissolved. The stock of Cattle Breeding consisted of about 1,000 goats housed in five goat sheds, 11 cows in cowsheds, and 8 to 10 horses – owned by the Community – placed in the stable.

In November 1940, Dr. J. Leider1 was deliberately brought to the ghetto, as the lack of medical care for animals had caused great damage. On January 1, 1941, Cattle Breedingwas converted to Animal Husbandry Department, with care extending not only to the Community’s property as before, but also to private horses. It also carried out partial payment made to carriers of vegetables and colonial goods brought to the ghetto. In March 1941, the first blacksmith was opened providing various services for the department, such as repairing cars or shoeing horses. In June 1941, it launched a chaff-cutter.

Any movement of transport occurs spontaneously; owners of trucks and horse- T drawn vehicles used for the transport demand exorbitant sums, even from municipal institutions, often refusing to drive. This kind of transport relationship prevented normal ghetto operations. At the beginning of July 1941, the so-called Animal Husbandry and Transport Department was granted the exclusive right to order transport runs and pay for them. All transport orders by divisions and departments in Animal Husbandry and Transport Department must be [submitted] one day prior. Failure or drivers and carters to carry out orders is punished with severe penalties. After a transport is completed, the division or department issues a so-called Transportschein, or a type of check, indicating the weight of transported goods, the route, or the time of transport. A transportschein serves as a basis for the calculation of the collective output of the car crew or of the work performed by a carter with horses. The fleet grew along with the development of the department. In September 1941, a total of 383 green carts were sent to the ghetto. These are four-wheeled peasant carts once common in the Polish borderlands, named for their green color. Each cart employs six to seven people. A whole range of various types of two-wheeled hand-drawn carts that had been private property were requisitioned and organized within the department. Rallying points were set for the carts. Only garbage removal carts were excluded from Animal Husbandry and subjected to the Management Department. In September 1941, ghetto livestock was temporarily expanded with 37 oxen. At the end of 1941, the name of the department was shortened to Transport Department. Thanks to strenuous efforts, the number of horses was increased and several new stables were created, such that on January 1, 1944, there were 143 horses. Individual units within the department are also being developed. At the end of 1943, three more smitheries were opened in several locations. In November 1943, cows and goats were taken on the orders of German authorities, with oxen being returned several months earlier, thereby prompting the liquidation of the relevant institutions.

In addition to the Transport Department, there was an independent institution, Elektrische Strassenbahn Getto, established in September 1941 to relieve the transport work (vide Elektrische Strassenbahn-getto). This department operated independently until May 1942, when it was incorporated into Transport Department as one of its branches. After the merger of the two departments, new institutions, such as motor repair workshops, were established and special traffic controllers were designated to avoid collisions and to improve work, as streetcar traffic on a single track is quite complicated. On June 26, 1942, a special police unit was formed to maintain order, equipped with headbands bearing the embroidered letter “T.”

M. Nowak]