Trobitz
The peaceful rural autumn landscape by the railway track in Trobitz is disturbed from time to time by the sound of trains rushing through. Mostly there is stillness, footsteps tramping through the leaves and the ghosts of the Russian Cavalry riding through the woods and resting in the glades.

Trobitz is a small village in former East Germany . It is the place where one of the last three trainloads of Jews was rescued by the Russian cavalry. Maurice told me the story of this rescue very early on in our friendship. We were sitting in my garden, in summer, against a backdrop of flowers. They had been travelling on the train for 14 days. Progress was slow because the tracks were damaged; the US and British troops were coming one way and the Russians from the other. The Germans were wedged between these advancing armies. The train would stop for hours, days; it was a passenger train, not a cattle truck. Maurice was sleeping under a seat and heard noises, shouting and cheering. He got up and looked out of the window to see men on horseback galloping round.