2,500 survivors were on the "death train" that made its way from Bergen-Belsen to Theresienstadt, after its liberation by United States military forces.
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In the years since the Holocaust, images of the liberation of the train have been revealed to the public, but the film documentation has been forgotten in the archives. Now, 78 years later, it has been revealed for the first time.
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According to a report on Ynet, the video was found in the US National Archives, during work on preparing a documentary about the train rescue operation, a film initiated by Matthew Rozelle - a history teacher from New York who has been researching the affair since 2001. During the work, the moving video was found.
Yaakov Barzilai, now 90, was among the train passengers as a 12-year-old boy. He identified himself, his mother, and his sister in the film: "We arrived at Bergen-Belsen five and returned only three. I lost my father and my grandfather there. Our train was perhaps the most documented train of the Holocaust, but this is the first time I have seen a video. The goal was to drown us in the Elbe River – and the Americans prevented that.".
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Photo: US National Archives
The video shows American soldiers handing out chocolate and cigarettes to prisoners. Some of them are still on the train and have not gotten off. Others got off the train and immediately lay down on the ground and went to sleep, completely exhausted.
Some look like 'Moslems', hungry. Many wave hello to the American photographer.
On one of the train cars, the prisoners wrote: "Long live the USA and long live England.".
In one segment, hundreds of Jewish prisoners are seen lying in a wadi at the foot of the train, while others light a fire to warm themselves or make tea.
The second part of the video documents a meeting of American, Russian and British soldiers after the liberation of the city of Magdeburg on the banks of the Elbe. In another section, smoke is seen rising in the distance – a remnant of a battle between Allied forces and Germans – and later, generals are seen exchanging experiences from the battle.
