Train of Refugees, Amritsar 1947

Train of Refugees, Amritsar 1947

Hindustan Times and Dawn

Photograph

The Partition of 1947

Getty Images

A packed train leaves the Amritsar border for Pakistan 1947. Trains were protected by armed guards and would take undisclosed routes, yet many were still attacked by nationalist groups. Many families were separated and displaced at train stations, resulting in many stories going unrecorded and lost. Personal recounts share how massacres would occur on the trains and once they arrived at the stations they would be overflowing in lifeless bodies. After one such violent attack, photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White had arrived at the Amritsar station, and had witnessed men from the nationalist militant groups sitting and awaiting the next train’s arrival.