The story of the first train in Europe to deport civilians to a Nazi death camp.
60 years ago, World War II ended and Hitler's concentration camps were liberated. This chilling documentary now reveals the first mass deportation that led to the Holocaust: the story of the Spanish Republicans.
August 24, 1940. A freight train crammed with 927 Spanish Republicans who had sought refuge in France after the Spanish Civil War pulled out of Angoulême station in southern France. Destination: Mauthausen. It was the first train in Western Europe to deport civilians, to a Nazi death camp. 87% of the 470 people who entered the camp died there.
The story of the train from Angoulême has remained forgotten and silenced together with those of so many other victims of the Franco dictatorship. It has been easy to forget the Spanish victims of Nazi concentration camps given the staggering number of Jews and other people who were murdered. To make matters worse, the few Spanish survivors couldn't return to Spain and those who eventually did, were treated like murderers and couldn't talk. Today some of the thirty survivors are asked to speak out and set the record straight.
August 24, 1940. A freight train crammed with 927 Spanish Republicans who had sought refuge in France after the Spanish Civil War pulled out of Angoulême station in southern France. Destination: Mauthausen. It was the first train in Western Europe to deport civilians, to a Nazi death camp. 87% of the 470 people who entered the camp died there.
The story of the train from Angoulême has remained forgotten and silenced together with those of so many other victims of the Franco dictatorship. It has been easy to forget the Spanish victims of Nazi concentration camps given the staggering number of Jews and other people who were murdered. To make matters worse, the few Spanish survivors couldn't return to Spain and those who eventually did, were treated like murderers and couldn't talk. Today some of the thirty survivors are asked to speak out and set the record straight.
