Eight years ago tonight, we sat down for dinner at our farewell banquet and asked them to turn on ABC News. It was Friday evening after a three day reunion at our high school that included a dinner dance with American soldier liberators and Holocaust survivors on a steamboat on Lake George. This is what we watched together with students and family members.
In the opening sequence, Frank Towers is walking his wife Mary into the high school, and he says, ‘Here we are! We have arrived!’
65 years before, Carrol Walsh and George Gross did exactly that- arrived on the scene with their two tanks to save 2500 Jews from probable death. The next day, Frank arrived to transport those saved by the Americans out of harm’s way.
They are gone now, but thankfully got to meet and reconnect with over 275 Holocaust survivors and their families. What they did will last forever.
Teaching History Matters 
There were three trains that left Bergen Belsen during those early days of April 1945. One arrived at Theresienstadt in Czechlosovakia, one got stranded near Magdeburg( the one that you are most involved with) and the third one stranded near a little village called Tröbitz, Germany. Fortunately, my mothers aunt and her two children (Clara and Maurice) survived the “expedition” and the liberation of the train by the Russian Cossacks. Now after a successful life as a sculptor, film (called ‘Hollow Dog’) has been made about Maurice Blik – if you want to see the trailer – here is the link [http://www.yamedia.co.uk/ – the story is under http://www.yamedia.co.uk/hollow-dog/4592651715%5D. It is a film that says quite definintely that there is a life after such a trauma and that it can bring forth some very rich and in the end beautiful things. The film maker Clive Martin has also produced a short film about the installation of one of Maurices sculptures. The sculpture was made for the British Evacuees Association and is a a series of figures representing the evacuation of children from the British cities during WWII [the link is under
https://vimeo.com/234143951%5D
Thank you. The infamous Lost Transport.I go into some background detail on the three trains in my book at https://www.amazon.com/Train-Near-Magdeburg-Holocaust-liberators/dp/0996480021.