Editing Nazi ghost train (section)

{{Short description|1944 train intended to transport prisoners}}
{{distinguish|Nazi gold train}}
[[File:US Holocaust Memorial Museum - Boxcar.jpg|thumb|alt=Original artifact. Brown [[covered goods wagon]] with light creating shadows from upper right corner.|Replica of a [[Holocaust train]] boxcar used by Nazi Germany to transport prisoners.]] 

The '''Nazi ghost train''', also known as the '''phantom train''', is the common name for a train that, at the beginning of September 1944, was intended to transport 1,600 political prisoners and [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] [[prisoners of war]] (POWs) held at [[Saint-Gilles prison]] in [[Brussels]], to [[concentration camp]]s in [[Germany]]. The fall of Brussels to the [[Allies of World War II|allied armies]] was imminent and the departure of the train was delayed and progress slowed by sabotage and deserting Belgian railway workers. The train had only traveled about {{cvt|30|km|mile}} out of Brussels when it was ordered to return. The Germans needed all transport to evacuate their troops from Brussels. Swedish and Swiss diplomats negotiated the release of the political prisoners. The POWs escaped in the chaos of the German flight from Brussels.