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The Czech Freedom Train

On 11 September 1951, a train in Communist Czechoslovakia was hijacked and driven to freedom in West Germany.

On 11 September 1951, the 9.55am train from Prague to A拧, in Communist Czechoslovakia was hijacked and driven to freedom in West Germany.

One hundred and eleven people were on board and 34 of them never returned, starting new lives on the other side of the Iron Curtain.

The remaining 77 returned to Czechoslovakia to face state security, the St谩tn铆 bezpe膷nost, and many were jailed.

Rachel Naylor uses an archive interview with Karel Ruml, one of the hijackers, who went on to move to the United States.

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(Photo: A steam train in Czechoslovakia in 1960. Credit: Alamy)

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11 minutes

Last on

Wed 25 Jun 2025 02:50GMT

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