thumb|alt=Original artifact. Brown [[covered goods wagon with light creating shadows from upper right corner.|Replica of a Holocaust train boxcar used by Nazi Germany to transport prisoners]]
The Nazi ghost train, also known as the phantom train, is the common name for a train that, at the beginning of September 1944, was intended to transport 1,600 political prisoners and Allied prisoners of war (POWs) held at Saint-Gilles prison in Brussels, to concentration camps in Germany. The fall of Brussels to the allied armies was imminent and the departure of the train was delayed and progress slowed by sabotage and deserting Belgian railway workers. The train had only traveled about out of Brussels when it was ordered to return. The Germans needed all transport to evacuate their troops from Brussels. Swedish and Swiss diplomats negotiated the release of the political prisoners. The POWs escaped in the chaos of the German flight from Brussels.
Background
thumb|right|250px|Saint-Gilles Prison
In 1944 Belgian prisons were over-crowded due to arrests of persons resisting the German occupation of the country. More than 5,000 prisoners (including more than 300 women) were transported out of Belgium to concentration camps in Germany prior to the Nazi ghost train. By early September 1944, 1,538 political prisoners and fifty-three allied airmen shot down and taken prisoner were incarcerated in Saint-Gilles Prison in Brussels. The nationalities of the prisoners included Belgians, French, Russians, Americans, Canadians, and British.
The British army was approaching Brussels and it was obvious that the city would soon fall to the Allies. At the same time that the Germans were planning to send the prisoners to Germany the German army was abandoning Brussels.
On 25 August representatives of the consular section of Swedish Embassy and of the International Red Cross met and decided to attempt to persuade the Germans to release the political prisoners in Saint-Gilles prison. On 28 August the diplomats held another meeting at the Swiss Legation and prepared a paper to present to the German Ambassador requesting the release. The Swedish Consul met with the German Ambassador that same day and presented the paper. The German Ambassador agreed to bring the paper to the attention of the SS leader in Belgium. The SS response was vague but said that the prisoners who had committed serious offenses could not be released.