The second wave of deportations started in September 1942. It was then that the most tragic event in the history of the ghetto took place – deportation of children up to 10 years of age and the elderly over 65 years of age; it should be noted that it was their appearance and the ability to work that decided their fate. A curfew was announced and a selection was carried out among the inhabitants of the ghetto. Children and the elderly were put on wagons (small children often found it exciting – it was the first time they rode a horse cart). After this operation, there was a great number of suicides in the ghetto (an eloquent description of these events can be found in the aforementioned memoirs of Josef Zelkowicz, and in the Chronicle of the Łódź Ghetto). “Wielka szpera” started with the liquidation of hospitals and orphanages in the ghetto. In total, on September 3–12, 15, 681 people were deported. 
“Today we begin the fourth year of the war (September 1, 1942). The Nazi authorities commemorated the anniversary with a new cruelty towards the Jews: all patients were deported from hospitals, regardless of their health status. Already in the evening the day before, appropriate steps were undertaken in secret. The Jewish police were mobilized, not revealing the reason of the emergency. This morning they surrounded hospitals on the following streets: Wesoła, Drewnowska, and Łagiewnicka, and the sick were taken.” 

“On September 5 [1942], the Notice of the Chairman No. 391 was announced, banning people from leaving their houses from 5 pm until further notice. But on Thursday Rumkowski told us that deportation operation would include children under ten years of age and the elderly over sixty five years.”
Etka Daum 

A grievous blow has struck the ghetto. They are asking us to give up the best we possess – the children and the elderly. I was unworthy of having a child of my own, so I gave the best years of my life to children. (…) I never imagined I would be forced to deliver this sacrifice to the altar with my own hands. In my old age, I must stretch out my hands and beg: Brothers and sisters! Hand them over to me! Fathers and mothers: Give me your children!
Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, 
 
"The Germans chose themselves. Biebow gave cards to foremen, managers, and some policemen so that their children would not be taken away. Those children gathered at the hospital (37 Łagiewnicka Street) and nurses looked after them. I was entrusted with that very task.” 
Dania Kopcowiska 
 
“The chairman demoralized Jewish policemen, assuring the safety of their own children, as long as they tore other people's children from the hands of their mothers. It was a degeneration of the spirit of the ghetto” 
Oskar Singer