Template:Did you know nominations/First mass transport of Jews to Auschwitz concentration camp

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Cwmhiraeth (talk) 06:16, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

First mass transport of Jews to Auschwitz concentration camp

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... that the systematic deportation of Jews to Auschwitz concentration camp began on 26 March 1942 with a transport of 997 women and girls from Poprad, Slovakia? Source: 997; "Instead, in the spring of 1942 three groups of Jewish prisoners came to Auschwitz: the first mass transports of Jews to Auschwitz were made up of Slovakian Jews, of whom four transports of young women, some 3,800 in total, arrived between 26 March and 7 April." (Longerich, 2010 pp. 344–345); "Systematic mass deportations of Jews to Auschwitz began in late March 1942. The first RSHA train, carrying 999 women from Slovakia, arrived on March 26" (Wachsmann 2015, p. 297.)

Reviewed: Temporary gentlemen
Comment: Special occasion date 25 or 26 March

Created/expanded by Buidhe (talk). Self-nominated at 18:17, 17 February 2020 (UTC).

Article is a new fork, recently moved to mainspace. Hook is cited to the Times of Israel and other book sources used in the article, and is historically accurate and important. No copyvio concerns. Ritchie333 ^(talk) ^(cont) 13:55, 23 February 2020 (UTC)

Ritchie333, did you note the concerns on talk about the title? SarahSV ^(talk) 16:37, 23 February 2020 (UTC)

I came to the article expecting various reverts and subsequent talk page discussions, but just a lot of disagreement and not many changes by third-party editors. I personally think there is an interesting and important article to get on the main page. I suppose I could take the discussion to WT:DYK to get more views. Ritchie333 ^(talk) ^(cont) 22:58, 23 February 2020 (UTC)

Ritchie333, there haven't been reverts because I've made no attempt to change the article. The problem is both the title and the content. Quoting Danuta Czech: "This was the first registered transport sent to Auschwitz by RSHA IV B4 (the Jewish Office, directed by SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann)."
That doesn't mean it was the first overall. These prisoners were registered in the camp, given serial numbers and put to work. There were other transports that went straight to the gas chamber. The question is whether any of the latter preceded the 26 March one.
I'm currently trying to determine what the scholarly consensus is but that takes time. If the consensus can be established and it agrees with Buidhe's title, then fine. If it doesn't, we need to decide on a new title, rewrite the lead, etc. There is also a question over the figure 997. Having to do all this work for a DYK hook feels like the tail wagging the dog. SarahSV ^(talk) 23:30, 23 February 2020 (UTC)
To elaborate on my point about the hook and title, it would make more sense to write an article about the first mass transports plural. That would make the article more accurate and give us more to write about. As it stands, we're trying to force the facts to fit the "first mass transport" thesis, which leaves very little to say in the article, because not much is known about any particular transport. Writing it this way feels more like journalism than a history article. SarahSV ^(talk) 00:00, 24 February 2020 (UTC)