Russ Folsom writes on the RSHA in France.
I believe these transports left from the infamous transit camp at Drancy.
RSHA means 'Reichssicherheitshauptamt' - Reich Security Main Office. This was the labyrinthine controlling organization for all Police and Security matters in the Third Reich. It was set up by Himmler">Himmler's SD chief, Reinhard Heydrich in 1939 to pull together such disparate police agencies as the Orpo (Ordnungspolizei), the Kripo (Kriminalpolizei), the SD (Sicherheitsdienst), and the Gestapo. The hierarchal structure of RSHA was made up of a series of 'main offices', which beneath these, included descending subordinate departments. The best example is that of Amt IV - GESTAPO. This main-office was controlled by SS-Ogrf.Heinrich 'Gestapo' Mueller. A subset of AmtIV was section B4, which was the department headed by SS-Stuf.Adolf Eichmann>Eichmann. In fact, speaking of Drancy, IVB4 was the same agency responsible for the transportation or in Nazi parlance, 'resettlement', of the Jews of Europe to Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor, Majdnek, and other killing sites in the Baltic states and Byelorussia.
Eichmann>Eichmann's deputy in France was SS-Hstf.Alois Brunner, who oversaw hundreds of such transports of Jewish men, women, and children to death camps in the east. He also organized the evacuation and extermination of the Greek Jews of Thessaloniki. Brunner escaped prosecution after the war, but has been reported to be living in Syria in the last few years. Conflicting reports came out in Dec.1999 that he had died while under Syrian protection. The manhunt for Brunner was instigated and led by famous French Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld [who also found Klaus Barbie]; Klarsfeld's father was one of the French Jews transported from Drancy to Auschwitz-Birkenau during the war.
Frank DeLaglio adds: The SS-Rasse und Siedlungshauptamt (SS-Race and Settlement Main Office), abbreviated SS-RuSHA. If an officer of the SS wanted to marry, the bride and groom were required to submit a RuS-Fragebogen (Questionnaire) to the RuSHA.
The RuSHA would approve or disapprove the marriage based upon the data contained there within. This questionnaire contained questions on ethnic background and such. These " Fragebogen " have survived the war in abundance, but as practical documents for the SS researcher they are usually worthless.
There is one case in which a famous and highly decorated SS-Generals' daughter wanted to marry another equally famous and decorated SS-General. Applications (!) were submitted to the RuSHA and upon there review it was found that one of the parties had a Jewish ancestor way back in 1711. Based upon this finding the proposed marriage was rejected.