Unearthed Historic Footage Shows Liberation of WWII Nazi Train
A researcher has miraculously uncovered previously unseen archival footage showcasing the liberation of Jewish prisoners from a Nazi train during the waning days of WWII.
According to Israel's Channel 12, Holocaust researcher Matthew Rozell discovered the footage in the U.S. National Archives. A silent video shows the aftermath of the train’s liberation from Nazi forces on April 13, 1945. While many photos depicting the incident have surfaced over the years, this is believed to be the first video found.
On April 7, the train was loaded with 2,500 prisoners at Bergen-Belsen and set off for the Theresienstadt camp in the Czech Republic, known as a “weigh station” on the way to death camps. Six days later, the train was forced to stop as bombing intensified in the area. Several prisoners managed to escape from the train, alerting nearby U.S. soldiers. As vehicles and an American tank appeared on the horizon, the handful of Nazi sentinels guarding the train abandoned their posts.
George Goss, the commander of the American tank, recalled the experience in Rozell’s book about the rescue, A Train Near Magdeburg. “Everyone looked like a skeleton, so starved, their faces sick. And there was something else. When they saw us, they began to laugh with joy, if you can call it laughter. It was more like an outburst of pure, almost hysterical relief.”
The video shows American soldiers passing out food and cigarettes to the recently liberated. Some can be seen warming themselves by fires and making coffee. Others are grouped on the ground, sleeping or sunbathing in the afternoon sunlight. Scrawled on one of the train cars is a message, written by the liberated Jewish prisoners: “Long live the U.S. and England. Three cheers for the U.S.” Later on, American soldiers celebrate with Russian and English troops after liberating the city of Magdeburg, Germany.
Survivor Jacob Barzilai told Israel’s Channel 12 that he has tried for decades to find video footage of that day. “It was inconceivable, incomprehensible, and I couldn’t breathe, that I found what I had looked for over [so many] years,” he said of seeing his 12-year-old self on film.
He later recounted more to YNet. “We arrived at Bergen-Belsen as five people and only three of us returned. I lost my father and my grandfather there. In the clip, I saw my mother, my sister and myself. I was very emotional seeing the footage. I was at a loss for words.”
Miriam Mueller was just four years old in 1945. Though she didn’t see herself in the footage, she was deeply moved seeing it for the first time. “It brought up all sorts of memories. I had a hard time breathing afterward. I said this cursed war is just endless. We keep returning to it. Today, I have 26 grandchildren and 40 great-grandchildren, and there is another one on the way. The Lord, blessed be He, has performed a miracle with me.”