Page "Henriette Roosenburg" Paragraph 2

Henriette and the other prisoners were released on May 6, 1945 ; Henriette and four other Dutch NN prisoners ( Dries, Nell, Joke, and Fafa, a Dutch NN prisoner with severe arthritis ) had a chance to return to the Netherlands a few days later when the U. S. Army arrived with trucks to carry people through the Russian lines.

However, Fafa's arthritis was so severe that she could not walk ; and the surrounding roads were largely unpaved and rough.

The other four did not believe that Fafa would survive the trip even if there were room for her cot -- and there was not room for her cot ; the truck was densely packed and offered standing room only.

The group had heard that the Russians intended to send displaced persons back home via Odessa, a port in Ukraine on the Black Sea ; considering that too far of a side trip, Dries, Nell, Joke, and Henriette stayed behind to take Fafa to a local civilian hospital instead, and then set out on their own for the Netherlands.