Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor
CBS Sunday Morning will air as soon as this Sunday, Sept. 13, or Sept. 20, a feature on the documentary project based on Matt Rozell’s book A Train Near Magdeburg, timed with the Jewish High Holy Days.
Retired Hudson Falls history teacher Mr. Rozell told The Chronicle he and the filmmakers were interviewed by correspondent Seth Doane. He said the segment will include newly discovered photographs from the train rescue, as well as a clip of rare silent film footage discovered in 2023, of soldiers at the train taking care of the rescued prisoners.
Mr. Rozell said Emmy-winning director-producer Michael Edwards has shifted plans from a four-part series designed for streaming platforms to a two-hour documentary intended for theatrical release. He and screenwriter Lee Shackleford “totally reworked the script,” Mr. Rozell says. It’s now ready to release, they said online, pending funding.
The book tells of a little-known rescue by American soldiers of more than 2,000 European Jews trapped on an abandoned train at the end of World War II.
Mr. Rozell learned of the rescue through an oral history project he ran with his Hudson Falls students, interviewing local World War II veterans. As he was leaving one interview, veteran Carrol Walsh’s daughter asked her father, “Did you tell him about the train?”
What followed was years of research, several reunion events bringing together the American veterans and Jewish survivors, the book, travels across the world including connecting with residents of Magdeburg, Germany, who have since raised a monument to the events that transpired now more than 80 years ago.
Mr. Rozell said they continue to seek funding and backers for the film release, with planned meetings in Hollywood this week and Mr. Edwards’ recent meeting with Israel President Isaac Herzog.
Beyond the hoped-for 2027 national theatrical release, they aim also for a follow-up, multi-part streaming series that can include more of their extensive interviews and footage.
Mr. Rozell is working on a new book documenting all that has occurred since A Train Near Magdeburg was published 10 years ago in 2016.
His experiences include speaking at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and elsewhere, and meeting with 300 descendants of 11 of the rescued survivors —“people who are now alive because of what the soldiers did that day.”
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