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What was the state of the German rail system in 1944?

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What was the state of the German rail system in 1944?

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3

Could an SS officer get from Auschwitz to Berlin by train in July/August/September 1944? I need to know how Allied bombing might have disrupted the system.

For context: I am writing a mystery which includes a memoir of a survivor of Auschwitz. I want to be as accurate as possible... presumably the disruptions didn't keep them from shipping people TO Auschwitz. Would an officer leaving Auschwitz use a different rail line?

nazi-germany

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edited 58 mins ago

Denis de Bernardy

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asked 2 hours ago

OliviaOlivia

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Olivia is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Yes. Allied bombing disrupted the system, the Germans repaired it, the Allies bombed some more. This was an ongoing process which cost Germany both rolling stock and track materials at a rate that could not be replaced, but it didn't shut the rail system down completely. By the way, a question like this with no more context than "I need to know" looks suspiciously like some holocaust deniers who try to place their talking points on StackExchange. I hope that this is not the case here, but you might explain a bit more.
  
  – o.m.
  1 hour ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I am NOT a holocaust denier! Au contraire. I am writing a mystery which includes a memoir of a survivor of Auschwitz. I want to be as accurate as possible... presumably the disruptions didn't keep them from shipping people TO Auschwitz. Would an officer leaving Auschwitz use a different rail line?
  
  – Olivia
  1 hour ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  You should edit extra information into your question and not add it as an answer.
  
  – Steve Bird
  1 hour ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  This is not an answer to the question that was asked. By user request, I turned it into a comment. However, you can (and are encouraged to) edit this material into the question you asked. There should be an "edit" button or link directly underneath it.
  
  – T.E.D.♦
  1 hour ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Didn't we have a previous question about allied bombing of German train lines?
  
  – T.E.D.♦
  1 hour ago
  

  
  
  
  

 | 
show 5 more comments

3

Could an SS officer get from Auschwitz to Berlin by train in July/August/September 1944? I need to know how Allied bombing might have disrupted the system.

For context: I am writing a mystery which includes a memoir of a survivor of Auschwitz. I want to be as accurate as possible... presumably the disruptions didn't keep them from shipping people TO Auschwitz. Would an officer leaving Auschwitz use a different rail line?

nazi-germany

share|improve this question

edited 58 mins ago

Denis de Bernardy

14.9k24757

asked 2 hours ago

OliviaOlivia

161

New contributor

Olivia is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Yes. Allied bombing disrupted the system, the Germans repaired it, the Allies bombed some more. This was an ongoing process which cost Germany both rolling stock and track materials at a rate that could not be replaced, but it didn't shut the rail system down completely. By the way, a question like this with no more context than "I need to know" looks suspiciously like some holocaust deniers who try to place their talking points on StackExchange. I hope that this is not the case here, but you might explain a bit more.
  
  – o.m.
  1 hour ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I am NOT a holocaust denier! Au contraire. I am writing a mystery which includes a memoir of a survivor of Auschwitz. I want to be as accurate as possible... presumably the disruptions didn't keep them from shipping people TO Auschwitz. Would an officer leaving Auschwitz use a different rail line?
  
  – Olivia
  1 hour ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  You should edit extra information into your question and not add it as an answer.
  
  – Steve Bird
  1 hour ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  This is not an answer to the question that was asked. By user request, I turned it into a comment. However, you can (and are encouraged to) edit this material into the question you asked. There should be an "edit" button or link directly underneath it.
  
  – T.E.D.♦
  1 hour ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Didn't we have a previous question about allied bombing of German train lines?
  
  – T.E.D.♦
  1 hour ago
  

  
  
  
  

 | 
show 5 more comments

Could an SS officer get from Auschwitz to Berlin by train in July/August/September 1944? I need to know how Allied bombing might have disrupted the system.

For context: I am writing a mystery which includes a memoir of a survivor of Auschwitz. I want to be as accurate as possible... presumably the disruptions didn't keep them from shipping people TO Auschwitz. Would an officer leaving Auschwitz use a different rail line?

nazi-germany

share|improve this question

edited 58 mins ago

Denis de Bernardy

14.9k24757

asked 2 hours ago

OliviaOlivia

161

New contributor

Olivia is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

edited 58 mins ago

Denis de Bernardy

14.9k24757

asked 2 hours ago

OliviaOlivia

161

New contributor

Olivia is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

edited 58 mins ago

Denis de Bernardy

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asked 2 hours ago

OliviaOlivia

161

New contributor

Olivia is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

edited 58 mins ago

Denis de Bernardy

14.9k24757

edited 58 mins ago

Denis de Bernardy

14.9k24757

asked 2 hours ago

OliviaOlivia

161

New contributor

Olivia is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

asked 2 hours ago

OliviaOlivia

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2 Answers
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1

Could an SS officer get from Auschwitz to Berlin by train in July/August/September 1944?

Yes. Per the many comments to your question they'd repair the rails as they'd get destroyed. It might get delayed, but it would arrive.

presumably the disruptions didn't keep them from shipping people TO Auschwitz. Would an officer leaving Auschwitz use a different rail line?

(This being for a fictional journal, I presume you're not very interested in the potentially odd example that didn't follow the rule of thumb.)

To the best of my knowledge, no trains to concentration camps were cancelled owing to track damage. Delayed, I would assume with some regularity; but not cancelled. The reason I write not cancelled is that the nazis would prioritize troop convoys over holocaust trains. They had zero consideration for whoever was in the holocaust trains. This meant that trains arrived 4 days after leaving on average. The longest transport of the war probably illustrates this best. It departed from Corfu in Greece. When the train arrived 18 days later, everyone was dead when they opened the doors.

As to the journey the other way around, bombings or not it only takes a single track to get the traffic going. And as I've just noted above, the holocaust convey, rather than the SS or whatever else, would have been the one waiting if two trains were traveling in opposite directions.

---

If you're writing a fictional memoir of a survivor of Auschwitz, you might want to invest 10 hours and watch the soul-wrenching "Shoah" documentary if you want to try to convey the horrors of the time in your fictional journal. You will weep if there is any humanity in you. But do watch it regardless, because there simply is no way you'll be able to credibly capture the acute horror of the death camps without watching those first hand witness accounts or reading a few books to the same effect.

share|improve this answer

edited 9 mins ago

answered 39 mins ago

Denis de BernardyDenis de Bernardy

14.9k24757

add a comment | 

1

In August/September 1944, the German rail system was working reasonably well. It was heavily loaded, and sometimes damaged by bombing, but the Western allies weren't doing much bombing east of Berlin. Starting in October, the Western allies bean attacking the rail system systematically, which caused it to break down entirely in early 1944.

Source: The Collapse of the German War Economy, 1944-1945: Allied Air Power and the German National Railway, Alfred C. Mierzejewski, 2007.

share

answered 7 mins ago

John DallmanJohn Dallman

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1

Could an SS officer get from Auschwitz to Berlin by train in July/August/September 1944?

Yes. Per the many comments to your question they'd repair the rails as they'd get destroyed. It might get delayed, but it would arrive.

presumably the disruptions didn't keep them from shipping people TO Auschwitz. Would an officer leaving Auschwitz use a different rail line?

(This being for a fictional journal, I presume you're not very interested in the potentially odd example that didn't follow the rule of thumb.)

To the best of my knowledge, no trains to concentration camps were cancelled owing to track damage. Delayed, I would assume with some regularity; but not cancelled. The reason I write not cancelled is that the nazis would prioritize troop convoys over holocaust trains. They had zero consideration for whoever was in the holocaust trains. This meant that trains arrived 4 days after leaving on average. The longest transport of the war probably illustrates this best. It departed from Corfu in Greece. When the train arrived 18 days later, everyone was dead when they opened the doors.

As to the journey the other way around, bombings or not it only takes a single track to get the traffic going. And as I've just noted above, the holocaust convey, rather than the SS or whatever else, would have been the one waiting if two trains were traveling in opposite directions.

---

If you're writing a fictional memoir of a survivor of Auschwitz, you might want to invest 10 hours and watch the soul-wrenching "Shoah" documentary if you want to try to convey the horrors of the time in your fictional journal. You will weep if there is any humanity in you. But do watch it regardless, because there simply is no way you'll be able to credibly capture the acute horror of the death camps without watching those first hand witness accounts or reading a few books to the same effect.

share|improve this answer

edited 9 mins ago

answered 39 mins ago

Denis de BernardyDenis de Bernardy

14.9k24757

add a comment | 

1

Could an SS officer get from Auschwitz to Berlin by train in July/August/September 1944?

Yes. Per the many comments to your question they'd repair the rails as they'd get destroyed. It might get delayed, but it would arrive.

presumably the disruptions didn't keep them from shipping people TO Auschwitz. Would an officer leaving Auschwitz use a different rail line?

(This being for a fictional journal, I presume you're not very interested in the potentially odd example that didn't follow the rule of thumb.)

To the best of my knowledge, no trains to concentration camps were cancelled owing to track damage. Delayed, I would assume with some regularity; but not cancelled. The reason I write not cancelled is that the nazis would prioritize troop convoys over holocaust trains. They had zero consideration for whoever was in the holocaust trains. This meant that trains arrived 4 days after leaving on average. The longest transport of the war probably illustrates this best. It departed from Corfu in Greece. When the train arrived 18 days later, everyone was dead when they opened the doors.

As to the journey the other way around, bombings or not it only takes a single track to get the traffic going. And as I've just noted above, the holocaust convey, rather than the SS or whatever else, would have been the one waiting if two trains were traveling in opposite directions.

---

If you're writing a fictional memoir of a survivor of Auschwitz, you might want to invest 10 hours and watch the soul-wrenching "Shoah" documentary if you want to try to convey the horrors of the time in your fictional journal. You will weep if there is any humanity in you. But do watch it regardless, because there simply is no way you'll be able to credibly capture the acute horror of the death camps without watching those first hand witness accounts or reading a few books to the same effect.

share|improve this answer

edited 9 mins ago

answered 39 mins ago

Denis de BernardyDenis de Bernardy

14.9k24757

add a comment | 

Could an SS officer get from Auschwitz to Berlin by train in July/August/September 1944?

Yes. Per the many comments to your question they'd repair the rails as they'd get destroyed. It might get delayed, but it would arrive.

presumably the disruptions didn't keep them from shipping people TO Auschwitz. Would an officer leaving Auschwitz use a different rail line?

(This being for a fictional journal, I presume you're not very interested in the potentially odd example that didn't follow the rule of thumb.)

To the best of my knowledge, no trains to concentration camps were cancelled owing to track damage. Delayed, I would assume with some regularity; but not cancelled. The reason I write not cancelled is that the nazis would prioritize troop convoys over holocaust trains. They had zero consideration for whoever was in the holocaust trains. This meant that trains arrived 4 days after leaving on average. The longest transport of the war probably illustrates this best. It departed from Corfu in Greece. When the train arrived 18 days later, everyone was dead when they opened the doors.

As to the journey the other way around, bombings or not it only takes a single track to get the traffic going. And as I've just noted above, the holocaust convey, rather than the SS or whatever else, would have been the one waiting if two trains were traveling in opposite directions.

---

If you're writing a fictional memoir of a survivor of Auschwitz, you might want to invest 10 hours and watch the soul-wrenching "Shoah" documentary if you want to try to convey the horrors of the time in your fictional journal. You will weep if there is any humanity in you. But do watch it regardless, because there simply is no way you'll be able to credibly capture the acute horror of the death camps without watching those first hand witness accounts or reading a few books to the same effect.

share|improve this answer

edited 9 mins ago

answered 39 mins ago

Denis de BernardyDenis de Bernardy

14.9k24757

share|improve this answer

edited 9 mins ago

answered 39 mins ago

Denis de BernardyDenis de Bernardy

14.9k24757

answered 39 mins ago

Denis de BernardyDenis de Bernardy

14.9k24757

answered 39 mins ago

Denis de BernardyDenis de Bernardy

14.9k24757

1

In August/September 1944, the German rail system was working reasonably well. It was heavily loaded, and sometimes damaged by bombing, but the Western allies weren't doing much bombing east of Berlin. Starting in October, the Western allies bean attacking the rail system systematically, which caused it to break down entirely in early 1944.

Source: The Collapse of the German War Economy, 1944-1945: Allied Air Power and the German National Railway, Alfred C. Mierzejewski, 2007.

share

answered 7 mins ago

John DallmanJohn Dallman

18.1k35885

add a comment | 

1

In August/September 1944, the German rail system was working reasonably well. It was heavily loaded, and sometimes damaged by bombing, but the Western allies weren't doing much bombing east of Berlin. Starting in October, the Western allies bean attacking the rail system systematically, which caused it to break down entirely in early 1944.

Source: The Collapse of the German War Economy, 1944-1945: Allied Air Power and the German National Railway, Alfred C. Mierzejewski, 2007.

share

answered 7 mins ago

John DallmanJohn Dallman

18.1k35885

add a comment | 

In August/September 1944, the German rail system was working reasonably well. It was heavily loaded, and sometimes damaged by bombing, but the Western allies weren't doing much bombing east of Berlin. Starting in October, the Western allies bean attacking the rail system systematically, which caused it to break down entirely in early 1944.

Source: The Collapse of the German War Economy, 1944-1945: Allied Air Power and the German National Railway, Alfred C. Mierzejewski, 2007.

share

answered 7 mins ago

John DallmanJohn Dallman

18.1k35885

share

answered 7 mins ago

John DallmanJohn Dallman

18.1k35885

answered 7 mins ago

John DallmanJohn Dallman

18.1k35885

answered 7 mins ago

John DallmanJohn Dallman

18.1k35885