THE NAZI GHOST TRAIN

Resistance in occupied Europe.

Documentary producer Lewis, co-author of Defying Hitler (2019), has turned up a little-known but dramatic story of opposition to Nazi occupation. It took place in Belgium, quickly conquered in 1940. Most civilians kept quiet, but a few chose active resistance, which, in popular accounts, emphasizes sabotage and information gathering. Lewis does not ignore these but concentrates on organizations that rescued thousands of downed allied airmen and guided them toward Britain. He recounts the anecdotes of fliers, Belgian resisters, and their Nazi opponents. He emphasizes that Nazi occupation forces were efficient. They recruited Belgian sympathizers who joined resistance groups and betrayed them. A few fake fliers were English-speaking Germans who betrayed their rescuers. Most unsettling, Lewis turns up a Belgian career criminal who offered his services to the Nazis, formed his own rescue organization that employed many genuine Belgian resisters, and sent a steady stream of fliers and patriots directly into captivity. Fliers out of uniform lost Geneva Convention protection and were tortured as brutally as resisters; prison conditions were awful, and many were sent to German concentration camps. During the Reich’s collapse, Hitler continued to divert transportation from the battlefield to carry victims to Germany. The climax occurred in September 1944. Even as German units fled Brussels, others were packing another train. To their frustration, engineers were slow to arrive and then reported that the engine was wrong. The correct engine turned out to need repairs, but, once underway, it moved onto the wrong tracks. Delays continued until the Germans fled approaching Allies, and the train never left.

An expert account of heroic Belgian resistance.