Holocaust Memorial "The Lost Train" ("Der Verlorene Zug")

Between 8 and 10 April 1945, 7,500 prisoners from Bergen-Belsen were put on 3 train transports to Theresienstadt.

The first train was liberated near Magdeburg by US tankers within a few days. The second actually reached Theresienstadt around April 20. Theresienstadt was no longer reachable especially for the last train which became known as "The lost train" ("Der verlorene Zug") or "The train of the lost" ("Der Zug des Verlorenen") and was liberated by Soviet troops at Tröbitz after a long journey through Germany, on April 23, 1945.

Of the prisoners, 198 were already dead and in the following weeks another 320 people died because of exhaustion and disease.

Next to the church of Tröbitz is a Holocaust memorial commemorating this train. There is also a mass grave with 160 victims.

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Source

• Text: Fedor de Vries
• Photos: Koos Winkelman
• PRENGER, K., Meer dan alleen Auschwitz, Just Publishers, 2021.