Gifhorn railway accident (1941)
The Gifhorn railway accident was a rear-end collision on January 22, 1941, when a freight train crashed unchecked onto an unscheduled train at Isenbüttel - Gifhorn station (today: Gifhorn station ). 122 people, mostly Belgians, died and around 80 people were seriously injured.
Starting position
The unscheduled train was the W 94122, a Wehrmacht train . It consisted of 20 passenger cars . Around 1000 Belgian prisoners of war from Stablack (East Prussia) were supposed to be brought back to their Belgian homeland in Antwerp . The train did not have a fixed timetable , rather it always had to wait until a free route was available for it. In the Gifhorn station, the train came to a stop so early in the morning on the standard track of the Berlin-Lehrter Railway . It was dark, foggy and it was snowing a little.
It was followed by the Dg 6120 freight train within the block .
the accident
What happened next was never published due to World War II and the censored press. Presumably the engine driver of the Dg 6120 overlooked the entry signal of the station that was covering the passenger train because of the poor visibility due to the weather . The unscheduled train W 94122 had just received "free travel" by the exit signal from the station, released the brakes and was about to start when the freight train Dg 6120 hit it from behind unbraked at 08:26.
consequences
The last four cars were completely smashed, the last car was buried under the driven locomotive . Many of the passengers in the front car were slightly injured. The prisoners of war immediately began to free their comrades from the rubble. There were also three Belgian doctors on the train as passengers, but without medical equipment they could do little. After less than ten minutes, help came from the area: Red Cross , Wehrmacht, fire brigade and Hitler Youth .
The dead were first collected in a warehouse at the train station and later mostly buried in a cemetery in Fallingbostel . In Isenbüttel-Gifhorn, 71 identified prisoners died, 20 more dead could not be identified. Another 26 prisoners died in the hospitals in Braunschweig to which the injured were driven. In addition, the engine driver of the freight train and four German guards were killed. The passengers, who were able to travel, continued their journey in a newly assembled train.
literature
- NN: To mourn spectacular train accidents . In: Gifhorner and Wolfsburger Rundblick from May 13, 2012
- Hans Dierks: The railway accident of January 22, 1941 in: Gifhorner Kreiskalender 2020 , pp. 109–110
Web links
- Raymond Pappens: Accident du train de rapatriés à Isenbüttel le 22 janvier 1941 . In: Maison du Souvenir ( French ).
- Reiner Silberstein: 70 years ago Isenbüttel-Gifhorn experienced one of the biggest train accidents in Germany - a contemporary witness report . In: Gifhorner Rundschau, 2011 (fee required).
- Reiner Silberstein: Isenbüttler asks: Is that the disaster of 1941? In: Gifhorner Rundschau (fee required).
Coordinates: 52 ° 27 '18.7 " N , 10 ° 33' 1.9" E