Three black-and-white photographs, presented side by side, were published in the Westfälische Landeszeitung on November 26, 1938, to illustrate an antisemitic newspaper article. The backs therefore cannot be viewed. The photos show seven as yet unidentified men and women looking out of open windows of the third-class passenger train on which they are to be deported from Dortmund to Zbąszyń/Bentschen as part of the "Polenaktion” (Polish Operation). The Reichsbahn deployed the special train at 4 p.m. on October 28, 1938, at what was then the freight station on Treibstraße in the northern area of the main train station. Judging by their clothes, the people in the photo had already taken off their coats and stowed their personal belongings before standing at the train windows. Five of them look into the camera of the photographer who is on the platform. The pictures were probably taken shortly before the train's departure.

A photo reporter working for the Westfälische Landeszeitung took the three photos, which were printed side by side a month later in the November 26, 1938, edition of the paper. They appeared in the local news section on "Gross-Dortmund” (Greater Dortmund), where they served as illustrations for an antisemitic newspaper article about the expulsion of around 600 Jews with Polish citizenship from Dortmund that had taken place late in October. The author with the initials E. Lö. used the term "deportation," but did not name the destination. It is unclear whether he was the person who took the photos. Nor do we know whether negatives or original prints have survived, or whether any other photos were taken of the situation before the expulsion. The copy of the newspaper is kept in Stadtarchiv Dortmund.