Editing Nazi ghost train (section)

==Background==
[[File:Prison de Saint-gilles - 20080325.JPG|thumb|right|250px|Saint-Gilles Prison.]]
In 1944 Belgian prisons were over-crowded due to arrests of persons resisting the German occupation of the country. More than 5,000 prisoners (including more than 300 women) were transported out of Belgium to concentration camps in Germany prior to the Nazi ghost train.<ref name="Phantom Train Reports">{{cite web |title=Phantom Train Reports by C. Lokker and Anne Brusselmans |url=https://wwii-netherlands-escape-lines.com/prisoners-of-the-phantom-train-le-train-fantome-of-1-3-sept-1944/phantom-train-report-by-c-lokker/ |website=WWII Netherlands Escape Lines |access-date=10 October 2024}} Translation of ''Des Batons dans les Roues'' (1985), Brussels by C. Lokker</ref> By early September 1944, 1,538<ref name="Clutton-Brock">{{cite book |last1=Clutton-Brock |first1=Oliver |title=RAF Evaders |date=2009 |publisher=Grub Street |location=London |isbn=9781906502171 |page=314}} Estimates vary of the number of prisoners.</ref> political prisoners and fifty-three [[Allies of World War II|allied]] airmen<ref name="Allied airmen">{{cite web |title=Allied Airmen on the Phantom Train |url=https://wwii-netherlands-escape-lines.com/prisoners-of-the-phantom-train-le-train-fantome-of-1-3-sept-1944/allied-airmen-on-the-phantom-train/ |website=WWII Netherlands Escape Lines |access-date=10 October 2024}} Estimates of the number of prisoners vary. A list of 53 Allied airmen on the ghost trains seems the most accurate.</ref> shot down and taken prisoner were incarcerated in [[Saint-Gilles Prison]] in Brussels. The nationalities of the prisoners included [[Belgians]], [[French people|French]], [[Russian people|Russian]]s, [[Americans]], [[Canadians]], and [[British people|British]].<ref name="Verstraeten">{{cite web |last1=Verstraeten |first1=Walter |title=Minute-by-Minute Account of the Phantom Train |url=https://wwii-netherlands-escape-lines.com/prisoners-of-the-phantom-train-le-train-fantome-of-1-3-sept-1944/minute-by-minute-account-of-the-phantom-train/ |website=WWII Netherlands Escape Lines |access-date=10 October 2024}}</ref>

The British army was approaching Brussels and it was obvious that the city would soon fall to the Allies. At the same time that the Germans were planning to send the prisoners to Germany the German army was abandoning Brussels.<ref name="Daley-Brusselmans">{{cite book |last1=Daley-Brusselmans |first1=Yvonne |title=Belgium Rendez-Vous 127 Revisited |date=2001 |publisher=Sunflower University Press |location=Manhattan, KS |isbn=0897452550 |pages=112-115}}</ref>

On 25 August representatives of the consular section of [[Sweden|Swedish]] Embassy and of the [[International Red Cross]] met and decided to attempt to persuade the Germans to release the political prisoners in Saint-Gilles prison. On 28 August the diplomats held another meeting at the [[Switzerland|Swiss]] Legation and prepared a paper to present to the German Ambassador requesting the release. The Swedish Consul met with the German Ambassador that same day and presented the paper. The German Ambassador agreed to bring the paper to the attention of the [[SS]] leader in Belgium. The SS response was vague but said that the prisoners who had committed serious offenses could not be released.{{sfn|Daley-Brusselmans|2001|pages= 115-116}}<ref name="Verstraeten"/>