In January 1945, Nazi Germany faced military defeat. Allied forces liberated France, Belgium and most of the Netherlands. In Eastern Europe, the Red Army had advanced in to the Baltic States and Eastern Poland.
On January 10, the Soviet forces launched a large scale offensive in East Prussia and Poland (Operation Vistula – Oder). On January 17, Soviet forces entered Warsaw. Following the German withdrawal, Heinrich Himmler, Head of the SS, ordered the evacuation of all camps in Poland. On January 18 Auschwitz and its sub camps were evacuated. Many German cities were heavily bombed and destroyed during the Allied aerial attack. The German transportation system was thrown into chaos. However, the Gestapo continued to issue deportation announcements all across Germany. On January 19, the RSHA (Reich Security Main Office) informed all "Mischlinge" (who had been exempt from deportation) to prepare for deportation to Theresienstadt.
The transport left Vienna’s Nordbahnhof (Northern Railway Station) on February 1, 1945, and arrived in Theresienstadt on February 2. It consisted of four Jews.
It is likely that they were put on a regular passenger train, and traveled from Nordbahnhof via Breclav (Lundenburg) to Brno (Brünn). In Brno, they were transferred to a train run by the "Protektoratsbahnen" (the company that operated trains in the so called "Protektorat") destined for Prague (Praha). From Prague, the journey continued to Theresienstadt.
The transport was listed in the ghetto records as IV/15d 2. The Roman numeral IV represented Vienna as city of origin.