Although it was fashionable in Germany for couples to elope by slipping across the Czech border, the practice had been outlawed and Spivakovsky was promptly arrested when he tried to board the return train. Speaking in English, he urged Leonore to board without him and waited for the engine to start pulling away. Then he double-elbowed the two guards restraining him and leapt onto the moving train, to the cheers of his fellow travellers.