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**panzer1432** · 07-13-2012, 11:47 PM

holocaust

I have been there. Very impressive and a must see. However, I did not see the album. Wish I had.

Mike

**max history** · 07-14-2012, 03:08 AM

Since the museum let it be known they have the album, I believe they have had more requests for access and copies than any other item in their collection. It's widely used by researchers and publishers.
Max.

**tistou48** · 07-14-2012, 07:06 AM

ss album

I know they made a great and very interesting report on tv on it , here in europe..
Incredible story..

**Mil-Archive** · 07-14-2012, 11:57 AM

Originally posted by tistou48 View Post

I know they made a great and very interesting report on tv on it , here in europe..
Incredible story..

I have seen that documentary, it's on youtube for anyone who is interested.

**Br. James** · 07-14-2012, 12:58 PM

I visited this museum shortly after it opened in WDC and haven't been there since. I didn't see this album, but the museum is a must-see when visiting the capitol. I was there on a weekday and the place was almost empty; I'll never forget being completely alone in the railroad cattle car and sensing the powerful presence of that great tragedy surrounding me...in silence. I get chills now, just remembering it.

Br. James

**randy@treadways** · 07-14-2012, 02:14 PM

Originally posted by Br. James View Post

I visited this museum shortly after it opened in WDC and haven't been there since. I didn't see this album, but the museum is a must-see when visiting the capitol. I was there on a weekday and the place was almost empty; I'll never forget being completely alone in the railroad cattle car and sensing the powerful presence of that great tragedy surrounding me...in silence. I get chills now, just remembering it.

Br. James

This sounds weird, but did you know that after World War II, the French government decided to thank the Americans by shipping them 49 of those railroad cars... one for each State (48 at the time) and one for Washington, D.C. They have French army unit patches painted on the outside, but they look to me like the same kind of car that took people to Auschwitz.
I saw the one that Nevada received a couple of months ago in the Nevada State Railroad Museum. The sign next to it doesn't mention anything about the Holocaust, but it gave me the creeps.

http://www.nsrm-friends.org/nsrm56.html

**Br. James** · 07-14-2012, 06:19 PM

No, I didn't know that, Randy, and I'm not sure that I get the reasoning behind why the French Government would do such a thing. It hardly seems like a way to 'thank' an ally after such an experience as WWII was. I don't now recall whether that railroad car in the WDC Holocaust Museum was presented as an actual car that conveyed people to the concentration camps or if it was similar to those cars. But the way it is displayed at the museum is unforgettable, and I for one appreciate their effort to give today's visitors to the museum -- most of us far too young to have experienced the real thing -- a way of imagining what it might have been like to take that trip to Poland or Czechoslovakia or wherever that particular train traveled to, for it was probably the last ride those "passengers" ever took.

Br. James

**N.C. Wyeth** · 07-14-2012, 08:56 PM

You did good!

Originally posted by Br. James View Post

and I for one appreciate their effort to give today's visitors to the museum -- most of us far too young to have experienced the real thing -- a way of imagining what it might have been like to take that trip to Poland or Czechoslovakia or wherever that particular train traveled to, for it was probably the last ride those "passengers" ever took.

Br. James

OK, so perhaps the cars in that museum may not truly be what the place is puffing it up to be [but I must profess, I still remain uninformed of the truth myself] . . . regardless of where the railroad car may have originated, the fact that such an item can still today instill a sizeable amount of reverant respect for the past should not go unrecognized. I have been to many of the places where such a car may have, or even well, may have not been from . . . as well as that museum . . . just to know that someone out there takes a moment to recognize the siginificance such a car is meant to represent is good enough for me . . . For such an event is so remarkable, that at times, the comprehension of "details" could be understandably excused for some - especially in a place so distant from where such an event originally transpired . . .

Good for you, Br. James . . .

**N.C. Wyeth** · 07-14-2012, 09:02 PM

And I was there [that museum] when it first opened . . . and returned once three years ago, on a whim . . . but not since this photo album has become such an icon . . . with as significant of a discovery that it is, I would have a difficult time believing anyone could simply walk into the museum and expect to view the album in person . . . I suspect it is highly guarded, and kept quite secure - far away from the masses . . .

**Br. James** · 07-15-2012, 07:40 AM

Thanks, N.C.,

Glad you've visited this museum, too. The railway cattle car experience is akin to another I've had in past years when I've visited one of the great Civil War Battlefields. Nowadays we see nothing of the horror recorded in all those photos by Matthew Brady and his colleagues, but the gently-rolling terrain covered with beautiful lawn hides a terrible 'secret.' The slaughter of human life that once took place in such locations must not be forgotten...even though today's visitor can see nothing of that tragedy for himself.

Br. James

**tmca05** · 07-15-2012, 10:50 AM

The railcars that you are thinking about were gifts from France following WW1, not WW2. 39 of the 50 still survive today!

See: http://www.skylighters.org/encyclope...yandeight.html

Attached Files

Train.jpg (44.6 KB, 199 views)

**tmca05** · 07-15-2012, 10:54 AM

Correction: The train came over following WW2 ( 3 FEB 1949 into New York).

**Br. James** · 07-15-2012, 03:26 PM

A great story of post-war American generosity and French gratitude which I've never heard before! Many thanks to tmca05 for sharing it with us! Is there any reason to believe that one of these "Forty and Eight" boxcars from the Gratitude Train is now located at the Holocaust Museum in WDC?

Br. James

**randy@treadways** · 07-15-2012, 03:51 PM

Originally posted by Br. James View Post

A great story of post-war American generosity and French gratitude which I've never heard before! Many thanks to tmca05 for sharing it with us! Is there any reason to believe that one of these "Forty and Eight" boxcars from the Gratitude Train is now located at the Holocaust Museum in WDC?

Br. James

No. I read that the one in the Holocaust Museum was sent by the German Government after a request by the museum. It was built in 1942 and is the same kind as those used for transport to Auschwitz, with the big curved roof on top. But the German government said it is impossible to know whether this exact car ever went to Auschwitz or not.
They traced the serial number on the frame back to the factory to determine the 1942 build date.
It is probably a more likely type to go to Auschwitz than the type of the "gift 49", but who is to say what was used when they transported from France. It is a similar size. In fact the explanation card says the original specifications came from the French Army. It was designed to carry either 100 troops (if I remember right), or 20 horses.

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