The Alps
Photo: AFP
Retracing their ancestors' escape route
The descendants of Holocaust survivors march in the Alps, following the 18-km route their forebears followed to escape the Nazi inferno by fleeing to the Land of Israel.
After World War II, some 300,000 Holocaust survivors escaped from Europe to Israel through the Bricha (escape) movement. About 5,000 of them did so on a trek through the Alps. Last weekend, for the 11th year in a row, that journey was re-enacted.
The trek continues for 18 kilometers, from Austria to the Italian border, along the route taken by the survivors.
The Alps (Photo: AFP)
The trip was led by Israel's ambassador to Austria, Talia Lador Fraser, and the head of the Bricha Heritage Society, Dr. Miri Nahari.
Among the participants were 50 decendants of Holocaust survivors.
Lador, whose parents were Holocaust survivors who travelled through Europe on their way to Israel, said that some of the marchers were crying on the way from excitement.
Nahari said: "We walked along the steep road, climbed the snowy paths. I thought about our parents who walked without proper equipment, with children in their hands.
"I do not understand how they overcame the difficulty."
At a ceremony before the trekers departure, the president of Austria said, "The Jews wanted to escape from Europe because we could not make them feel welcome (after the war)."
