strikers and demonstrators were arrested, imprisoned, or shipped off to labor camps. By the spring of 1941, almost all opposition to Rumkowski had dissipated. In the beginning, the Germans were unclear of their own plans for the ghetto, as arrangements for the "Final Solution" were still being developed. They realized that the original plan of liquidating the ghetto by October 1940 could not take place, so they began to take Rumkowski's labor agenda seriously. Forced labor became a staple of ghetto life, with Rumkowski running the effort. "In another three years – he said – the ghetto will be working like a clock." This sort of "optimism" however, was met with a damning assessment by Max Horn from Ostindustrie, who said that the ghetto was badly managed, not profitable, and had the wrong products. Deportations In January 1942, some 10,000 Jews were sent aboard Holocaust trains to Chełmno based on selections made by the Judenrat. An additional 34,000 victims were sent to Chelmno by 2 April, with 11,000 more in May, and over 15,000 in September 1942, for a total of 71,000 for 1942 as a whole. The children and the elderly as well as anyone deemed "unfit for work" in the eyes of the Judenrat would follow them. Rumkowski actively cooperated with German demands, hoping to save the majority of the ghetto inmates. Such behaviour set him at odds with the Orthodox observant Jews, because there could be no justification for delivering anyone to certain death. Following the creation of the extermination camp at Chełmno in 1941, the Nazis ordered Rumkowski to organize several waves of deportations. Rumkowski claimed that he tried to convince the Germans to reduce the number of Jews required for deportation and failed. Give Me Your Children On German orders Rumkowski delivered a speech on September 4, 1942 pleading with the Jews in the ghetto to give up children 10 years of age and younger, as well as the elderly over 65, so that others might survive. "Horrible, terrifying wailing among the assembled crowd" could be heard, reads the transcriber's note to his parlance often referred to as: "Give Me Your Children". Some commentators see this speech as exemplifying aspects of the Holocaust. Personality Rumkowski was ruthless, using his position as head of the Judenrat to confiscate property and businesses that were still being run by their rightful Jewish owners in the ghetto. He established