their rescue was catarina devon and maria could run over became lifelong friends. even though the german still occupied prague many of the prisoners were hidden in people s homes hundreds were hidden in city hospitals. the fact that the end of the war was approaching also played a role for people were already preparing for a change maybe they were becoming a bit more courageous and the guards were no longer as confident that since her. around a thousand prisoners were liberated in prague the guards on the train barely bothered to intervene when the german commanders in prague learned of the mass escape they ordered the train to move on.