Over the mountains – to the promised land The “Flight of the Jews” over the Krimml Tauern Mountain Range 60 years ago as an integral part of the great Jewish exodus from eastern Europe to Palestine by Harald Waitzbauer

Drama of the European Refugees 1945 Nazi Germany and the 2nd World War triggered a mass migration in Europe of unimaginable proportions. At the end of the war millions of people found themselves uprooted in an alien environment or had to flee their home country as a direct consequence of the war: prisoners of war, slave labourers, those with homes destroyed by bombs, those expelled under force, people freed from concentration camps, and many more – all were on the move around the expanses of rubble which characterised central Europe, between ruined homes, temporary camps and other emergency shelters. There were over 1.6 million foreigners in Austria in May 1945, excluding allied soldiers. At the end of the war the city of Salzburg had an indigenous population of 80,000. In addition there were 60,000 “strangers” which included all those stranded against their will: prisoners of war from Poland, Serbia, Ukraine, France etc. as well as bombing raid evacuees from Westfalia, refugees from Vienna and Lower Austria who had been on the front line, ethnic Germans from Hungary and Romania, slave labourers from Poland, Belarus and Ukraine, civil internees from South Tyrol, Cossacks and Hungarians who had been allies of the Third Reich, collaborators of all nationalities and members of the plain-clothed German armed forces. The war was at an end but an end to the streams of refugees was not in sight. Europe’s mass migration of people continued long after 1945. One refugee was, however, not the same as the next. They were either the conquerors or the conquered. In official jargon those refugees known as “displaced persons” were defined initially as being any refugee from one of the 4 allied nations, plus any victim of the Nazis. As a consequence of this definition, ethnic Germans from Hungary and Romania were not given DP-status unless, that is, they could prove that they had suffered at the hands of the Nazis.

Tragedy of the East European Jews 90% of all Jews from eastern Europe between the Baltic and the Balkan States had been murdered. The small number who had either avoided or survived concentration camps – about 800,000 people – played a central role in the tragedy of refugees during the post war period. Of these, 250,000 did not want to continue living in the places where the foundations of their cultural, social and economic existence had been destroyed.

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We must get away from here Redrawn borders, forced relocation, antisemitism and irreversible dispossession gave numerous Jews the urge to flee, emigrate and start their lives afresh. The overriding instinct: away from these places of horror and this hostile environment. A series of Jewish organisations supported this urge, steering the people’s desire for a permanent home and safety in the direction of Palestine/ Eretz Yisrael (Greater Israel). Because of this, one of the biggest emigration operations that Europe had ever seen developed. Aproximately 250,000 Jews were smuggled between 1945 and 1948 from eastern Europe to the occupation zones in the west. About half of this illegal flow of refugees (120,000 to 125,000) were sent via Salzburg, and approx. 50,000 of these continued via various routes to Italy. Palestine Palestine was the objective of the Exodus. Palestine was, however, under British Mandate at the time, and the British tried everything in their power to prevent even more Jewish refugees from settling there until the “Palestine Problem” had been resolved. The British negotiated with numerous European governments, trying to prevent the flow of migrants from continuing; they operated a naval blockade along the Palestinian coastline in order to intercept the refugees’ ships, and they tried to control the refugee routes from their occupation zone in Austria – all to no avail. Nothing could stop the Jewish Exodus across half of Europe. The refugees’ organisation Bricha (Hebrew for Flight) was behind the operation. The Bricha movement was founded by young Zionists in eastern Europe towards the end of the 2nd World War, with the aim of helping Jewish survivors emigrate illegally to Palestine. After the end of the war a wide-reaching network of aid agencies sprang up, to which various Jewish organisations other than the Bricha belonged. Among others there were the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (Joint for short), and the Aliya Bet, a secret organisation for illegal immigration into Palestine, founded by the Jewish/Palestinian military organisation named Hagana, which took over responsibility for the refugees from the Bricha at the Italian coast. Quite apart from this, the Bricha was associated with the UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) which, together with the US occupying power, was responsible for the DP camps. Further prerequisites for the successful implementation of the flight plans were good connections with the Austrian authorities as well as the assistance of numerous helpers. Salzburg - focal point of the Exodus The destiny of the Flight of the Jews, which continued for over 2 years, was partly dependent on the general political climate. The Soviet Union favoured the Jewish refugees in their occupation zone, in order to weaken the power of Britain in the Near East. France on the other hand, the occupying power in Tyrol and Vorarlberg, remained non-committal. On one occasion they allowed a convoy of refugees to cross the border into Italy, but the next time they blocked it. The Bricha was able to rely on the USA most of all. Salzburg was the US’ headquarters in Austria and thus held a decisive advantage as focal point of the exodus.

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The exodus route went via Czechoslovakia and Hungary to Austria, and via the Soviet occupation zone to the American one . It was the Bricha’s responsibility in Salzburg to shelter the Jewish DPs and refugees, and to send them on the next stage of their journey. To begin with, the Bricha’s Headquarters in Salzburg were in the Augustiner Brewery in the district of Mülln. Later they moved next door to the DP camp Riedenburg in the Neutorstraße 25. The flight facilitators had to be good organisers, chaperones and drivers. They had to procure forged documents, possess local geographical knowledge and know how best to avoid or bribe policemen, customs officers and border guards, or how to persuade them to cooperate with, or at least tolerate their activities. The Jewish DP Camp in Salzburg After the war the city of Salzburg was laced with a network of refugee camps, some of which were accommodated in former barracks and others in specially adapted camps. Poles, Hungarians, Ukraines, Russians, South Tyroleans, ethnic Germans and stateless people lived in 16 camps. From the autumn of 1945 Jewish DPs were accommodated in camps of their own. These camps, under the command of the American occupying power were self-administering. The USArmy and the UNRRA provided supplies. Camp committees organised accommodation, food, education, religious activities and security. There were workshops for apprentice cobblers, carpenters and mechanics as well as schools and kindergartens. There were five camps in all, four of which functioned as transit camps, with only one being permanent. Camp Mülln 6, Augustiner Brewery, Kloster Mülln This camp (“Camp Mülln 6”) was opened in November 1945; it housed 200 to 250 and served as a typical transit camp. It was closed in September 1946, temporarily occupied by Yugoslavian DPs and in 1947 subsequently rented as a school for craftsmen for Jewish youths. Machne Yehuda, Riedenburg Barracks This camp housed approx. 400 Jewish DPs from the summer of 1945 and was closed at the end of the year, but reopened in the summer of 1946 in connection with the “Polish Exodus” Up to 1800 people lived here at times. The camp inhabitants placed much emphasis on raising and educating their children to a high standard. Camp Herzl, Franz-Josefs-Barracks, Paris-Lodron-Straße This barrack complex was originally used as a reception camp for refugees of all nationalities. After the “Polish Exodus” it found use as a transit camp exclusively for Jews. In 1946/47 up to 2000 people were housed here at any one time. “Camp Herzl” was abandoned in the early summer of 1947 because of constant overcrowding and inadequate facilities. One attempt by 200 US soldiers to evict those in the camp failed; the residents barricaded themselves in and went on hunger strike, giving up only after the Bricha intervened. Bet Bialik, Struber Barracks, Klessheimer Allee 51

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Bet Bialik was established by the US Army and the UNRRA in the course of the “Polish Exodus”, August 1946. Initially the camp housed 2400 people and was thus extremely overcrowded. The inhabitants attached great importance to a programme of culture and education; 360 schoolchildren received lessons there and the camp even had its own theatre group. It was often in the headlines because of its black market trading activities and illicit slaughtering of animals. Bet Trumpeldor, Gnigl This camp was opened in the summer of 1946 and closed again as early as October of the same year. No further details are available. New Palestine, Near Camp Parsch, Fürbergstraße New Palestine was located next to the Parsch DP camp from late summer of 1945. It consisted of three brick buildings and three wooden barracks with a total of 183 rooms for 431 inhabitants. New Palestine was a permanent camp with a constant number of residents. No more than 463 people lived here between December 1945 und April 1947. The Jews, mostly Polish, organised a bustling camp life, which included a lending library, theatre evenings and a camp newspaper. Bet Israel, Camp Puch This camp in the district of Puch, between Salzburg and Hallein, was adapted for Jewish refugees in the summer of 1946 in response to the “Polish Exodus”. In June 1947 the camp population peaked at 1600 but decreased soon thereafter. The last of the Jewish refugees were transferred to Hallein in November 1948.

The wave of refugees from 1946 and 1947 The number of Jewish DPs whose escape route passed through Salzburg varied considerably. 25,000 arrived in Salzburg between May 1945 and May 1946. They were allocated to various DP camps and subsequently transported illegally to Italy, primarily via Germany and Tyrol, as soon as the opportunity arose. From June 1946 there was a dramatic increase in Jewish refugees from Poland. This was triggered by a pogrom in the Polish city of Kielce, during which 42 Jews were massacred. As a result around 100,000 Jews left Poland in the autumn of 1946 in a panic-ridden mass migration. The Bricha was able to co-ordinate the flow of refugees, arranging for most of them to be transported via Salzburg. Altogether 63,000 Jewish refugees travelled through Salzburg between May 1946 und January 1947. The “Polish Exodus” was followed by the “Romanian Exodus” of April 1947. The Bricha, which originally tried to stop the flow of people, did nothing to help the 30,000 Romanian Jews who were fleeing. They proved, however, to be unstoppable. 19,000 refugees arrived in Austria via Hungary between April and November 1947. Most of these remained in Vienna. Not until the end of August

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did the Bricha commence their illegal transport to the US Zone. In total, about 4000 mostly Romanian Jews managed to reach the American occupation zone in August 1947 through one means or another. The remaining refugees were brought from Vienna to the US zone that autumn. Routes of escape to Italy The Bricha were looking to smuggle the refugees temporarily residing in Salzburg to either Germany or to Italy via Tyrol. The most convenient route to Italy was via Tyrol, where France was the occupying power. The route via East Tyrol through the Puster Valley or via Tarvis could only be used in the summer of 1945 as it was quickly closed by the British occupying power. The Tyrol route over the Brenner and Reschen Pass to South Tyrol was dependent on the political climate which prevailed between Britain, France and Italy. If Britain put pressure on the governments of the other two countries, this made the transfer of the groups of refugees over borders complicated, dangerous and sometimes impossible, regardless of whether they were zonal borders or national frontiers. If the controls on the Brenner were intensified, a detour via the Reschen Pass was arranged instead. The refugee route went first of all from the city of Salzburg to Saalfelden, where the Jewish transit camp Givat Avoda had existed since the summer of 1946. From there the refugees were transported to Tyrol, either by train or by truck. „Wiesenhof“ and „Gnadenwalderhof“ were Jewish transit camps in the Tyrolean district of Gnadenwald, where the travellers rested and waited for a favourable opportunity to move onwards. This game of cat and mouse proved particularly successful for the Bricha; between November 1945 and January 1947 about 7800 Jewish refugees from Salzburg managed to travel to Italy via Tyrol on this route alone. From the end of 1946 the French occupying power reacted more strongly against illegal transportation, sending Jewish groups back to the American zone. Transportation through Tyrol was thus made much more difficult. The Bricha, therefore, searched for and found a new route to Italy, bypassing the French zone altogether – via the Krimml Tauern Mountain Range. Krimml Tauern: Flight over the mountains The pathway over the 2634 metres high Krimml Tauern was the most exhausting and spectacular route of the whole flight operation, for here was the border between Salzburg, i.e. the American occupation zone, and Italy. A significant number of Jewish refugees had already fled from Krimml via the Achen Valley to the South Tyrolean Aurina Valley in the summer of 1946. In 1947 the Bricha began to move groups of refugees in organised convoys via the district of Krimml, past the famous Krimml waterfalls, through the Achen Valley to the Krimml Tauern Lodge, and then on to Italy via the border crossing, which was not particularly well patrolled. The French occupation zone was thereby avoided. Groups of refugees managed to cross the border by means of this strenuous trek, about 200 people at a time, once, twice or three times a week.

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This episode of Salzburg’s post war history was given hardly any attention, and so it was very soon forgotten. There was one lone article in an undated supplement to the local paper “Heimatblatt” at the beginning of the fifties, which contained the following passage: “Over a period of time 7000 to 8000 Jews had assembled, desperate to emigrate to Palestine. They moved in groups of up to 300 towards the Tauern Lodge, where they rested with kith and kin before continuing south to reach Genoa. It was a sorry sight to see how these hounded souls had to carry their small children with great effort over the Tauern; they were unaccustomed to the high terrain and were certainly not equipped for it. They often camped for days on end in and around the Tauern Lodge, where they were able to cook the food they had brought with them.” (Toni Solinger, Krimmler Tauernhäuser i. Krimmler Achental, in: Land und Geschichte (Supplement to “Heimatblatt”), 2.Jg., Nr.2, pg.33 [1952]) The starting point for the trek over the Krimml Tauern was the DP camp Givat Avoda in Saalfelden. This DP camp for Jewish refugees was located where the Wallner Barracks stand today. Several hundred people were living in the camp at any one time. As soon as one group was despatched towards Italy, another would arrive from Salzburg. Viktor Knopf, who accompanied the refugees on behalf of the Bricha, later recalled: “They were people who had never been in the mountains before and thus knew nothing of how dangerous they could be; the route over the Krimml Tauern was no easy stroll even then. The refugees had no suitable equipment – they had no sturdy shoes, no waterproofs, no walking sticks and, as they had to carry everything themselves, very few refreshments.” (in: Thomas Albrich (Pub.), Flucht nach Eretz Israel. Österreich-Israel-Studien Band 1. Innsbruck-Vienna 1998, pg.193) Only the strongest of refugees could be released on the burdensome route over the Krimml Tauern. However, even these were inadequately equipped and woefully inexperienced on mountainous terrain. The Bricha endeavoured, whenever possible, to smuggle the elderly, small children, pregnant women and infirm across the border into Germany. The sequence of events during the flight was usually as follows: about 200 people were split into equal groups and loaded onto four trucks. Two of the trucks belonged to the camp itself, while the others were hired from two local companies: Koidl (Mittersill) and Geiger (Saalfelden). Departure from the DP camp in Saalfelden was at 10pm and the risky journey to Krimml took all of four hours. They arrived in Krimml at around 2am. The American authorities had not stationed control posts in Krimml, even though the British had specifically requested them to do so, for American policy in this respect was to neither help nor hinder Jewish refugees. On the other hand, the commander of the local Gendarmerie in Krimml, Helmut Kraut, had specific orders to let the fugitives proceed and not to intervene. Helmut Kraut: “The arrival of the first trucks in the night was reported to my superiors in Zell am See. Their orders were to “turn a blind eye”, in other words to allow them to proceed. These orders were obeyed. The transportation always arrived at nighttime. The trucks’ tailgates were let down quietly, refugees assembled

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noiselessly into groups and set off for the Krimml Tauern Lodge that very same night. […] The Jews’ equipment (clothing, shoes etc.) was catastrophic for this type of trek.” (In: Udo Kühn (Pub.), Der alte Krimmler Tauernweg. Erbach Bullau 1998, pg.60) The Krimml Achen Valley was not suitable for vehicles. The only residence in the valley which was occupied all year round was the Krimml Tauern Lodge. This was a farmhouse, inn and shelter all in one and its provisions were delivered by a single-axle horse-drawn cart during the months without snow. We can therefore assume that the trek into the Achen Valley began quietly alongside the Krimml waterfalls. Operatives from the Bricha accompanied the refugees’ procession, with one at the head and one bringing up the rear. The march lasted up to three hours before the upper waterfalls were left behind. Once the height difference of the waterfalls had been negotiated, the continuation into the valley was relatively trouble-free. After a further two hours the group finally reached the Krimml Tauern Lodge, the last ones arriving at around 7am. They were then able to recover for several hours, but the worst exertion still lay ahead. Viktor Knopf: “The innkeepers were very kind and good to us. We had brought our own provisions. Liesl Geisler, the innkeeper […], was truly a mother figure whenever children – not babies, but certainly small infants – were around. She stood in the kitchen, baked pastries (”Papperl”), and made tea and stews for everyone, so that they at least had something hot to eat. As there was too little room for everyone inside the house itself, some bedded down on the verandah, while those most exhausted found a place to rest in a communal dormitory.” (in: Thomas Albrich (Pub.), Flucht nach Eretz Israel. Österreich-Israel-Studien Band 1. Innsbruck-Wien 1998, pg.196). The innkeeper, Liesl Geisler, also wrote down her recollections of that time: “Then came 1947. The Jews’ trek over the Tauern. Often 200 to 300 turned up daily, cooked and rewarmed food for themselves in the utility room. There were poor people amongst them who didn’t even have rucksacks; there were little children, they were carried in small bundles on their backs, the house was often full. I made pastries for the poor children in the night; groups were also arriving during the night.” (Liesl Geisler, Handwritten Memoirs, undated. Geisler’s Collection) Some of the provisions necessary were brought up to the Tauern Lodge in the single-axle horse-drawn cart belonging to the innkeeper. In addition the horse carried infants, secured in boxes which were slung on either side of the horse’s saddle. The refugees still had the most strenuous part of the journey ahead of them: the footslog from the Tauern Lodge through the Windbach Valley up to the highest point of the pass and then down to Kasern in the Italian Aurina Valley. They set off again in the afternoon. There were still 1000 vertical metres to climb from the Krimml Tauern Lodge up to the Krimml Tauern Pass. It took four to five hours to reach the pass. At around 8 or 9pm the refugees stood on the 2634m high Krimml Tauern Heights, which marked the frontier between Austria and Italy.

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The descent to Kasern in the South Tyrolean Aurina Valley then began in pitchdarkness as the use of lamps was forbidden. The refugees at last reached the end of this stage of their journey between 1 and 3am and were received by further members of the Bricha. These people, not accustomed to mountain treks, needed up to ten hours to reach Kasern from the time they set out from the Krimml Tauern Lodge. The most exhausted of them were accommodated in the guesthouse „Kasern“ or in a farmhouse at Knappeneck, which had been rented for use as a recuperation centre. All the others were taken by the Bricha in American Red Cross vehicles to Merano or Milan. Meanwhile the helpers who had accompanied the refugees to this point returned via the Tauern Heights to Krimml and Saalfelden, where the next group was already waiting for their trek over the mountains. Most of these people had absolutely no experience of hiking in high mountains. Viktor Knopf once more: ”When I asked them, upon arrival in Italy, if they would go through the same again, they all replied “no”, come what may.” (in: Thomas Albrich (Pub.), Flucht nach Eretz Israel. Österreich-Israel-Studien Band 1. Innsbruck-Vienna 1998, pg.197). This transit from one country to another would not have been possible without the help of the authorities. The Austrian customs officers were rewarded with cigarettes and lighters for “turning a blind eye”, the Italian Carabinieri were bribed with lighters and tins of sardines. Some of the Carabinieri even helped carry the refugees’ belongings. These operations were not always crowned with success. In early August 1947 the Italians sent 175 refugees back again, mainly for appearance’s sake, to show goodwill to the British. The British continued to pressurise the Italian government and at the end of August a further group of 350 refugees were accosted in the Aurina Valley and sent back over the Krimml Tauern. On one occasion the British also stationed outposts on the Tauern Heights, turning away 80 refugees and sending them back to the Tauern Lodge. In this instance, however, it was a bluff organised by the Bricha. The British dismantled the outpost, withdrew with a sense of satisfaction, and two days later 250 refugees went unhindered over the pass. On one occasion a group of 70 to 80 decided to cross the Krimml Tauern on their own initiative and arrived one morning in Krimml by train, without being accompanied by the Bricha. The Gendarmerie were unable to stop them. Eventually, members of the Bricha, who had arrived in haste from Saalfelden, caught up with them in the Krimml Achen Valley and persuaded them to return to the Givat Avoda camp in Saalfelden. The route over the Krimml Tauern was only used for a relatively short space of time during the summer months of 1947. It became impossible to cross the pass as soon as the first snows fell in September 1947. Details regarding how many people actually managed to cross the Krimml Tauern into Italy during this period vary wildly between 3000 and 8000. Realistically, it was probably nearer 3000 to 5000. According to official figures, 250 people per week used the route over the Tauern in July 1947, and 500 per week in August. Victor Knopf, who assisted the refugees, mentioned between two and three groups per week, each consisting of 300 people.

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The operations were nearing their end not only because of the time of year, but also as a result of global political decisions. In November 1947 the UNO decided to divide Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab State. 22,000 Jewish refugees celebrated this proclamation in the American occupation zone. When the British Mandate over Palestine ended in May 1948 and the British withdrew, the illegal smuggling operation was no longer necessary.

Commemorative Event 50 years on 50 years later, in June 1997, a scientific symposium entitled “Salzburg – Focal Point of the Jewish Exodus 1945-1948” was organised by the State of Salzburg in cooperation with the Israeli Community. Former members of the Bricha, among others, spoke at this symposium about the secret missions through Austria. One can learn more about the subject in the publication “Flucht nach Eretz Israel, Die Bricha und der jüdische Exodus durch Österreich nach 1945” (Innsbruck-Vienna 1998), published by Thomas Albrich. (“Flight to Eretz Israel, the Bricha and the Jewish Exodus through Austria after 1945”). Immediately after this symposium, the participants gathered in the Krimml Tauern Lodge, where a plaque was unveiled commemorating the most onerous of all refugee routes. This plaque was relocated to the Krimml Tauern Pass in the summer of 1997. The inscription reads: “At this point in 1947 persecuted Jews from eastern Europe had to illicitly cross the border between Austria and Italy in order to reach Eretz Israel.” On the South Tyrolean side of the border they commemorated the events of 1947 with the cultural project “überGehen” (“Going over”), which saw twelve installations erected at various points around the countryside, symbolising the fight against the human tendency to “suppress and forget”.

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Bibliography and further reading Ahrntal. Ein Gemeindebuch. Hrsg. von der Gemeinde Ahrntal. Steinhaus 1999 Thomas Albrich, Exodus durch Österreich. Die jüdischen Flüchtlinge 1945-1948. Innsbrucker Forschungen zur Zeitgeschichte Bd.1. Innsbruck 1987 Thomas Albrich (Hg.), Flucht nach Eretz Israel. Die Bricha und der jüdische Exodus durch Österreich nach 1945. Österreich-Israel-Studien Band 1. Innsbruck-Wien 1998 Erste Pucher Geschichtswerkstatt. Zur Geschichte des Lagers Puch. In: Salzburg. Geschichte & Politik. Mitteilungen der Dr.-Hans-Lechner-Forschungsgesellschaft, 11.Jg., Heft 3-A, Juli-September 2001 Marko M. Feingold, Wer einmal gestorben ist, dem tut nichts mehr weh. Eine Überlebensgeschichte. Hrsg. von Birgit Kirchmayr und Albert Lichtblau. Wien 2000 Udo Kühn (Hg.), Krimmler Tauernhaus 1631m. Erbach-Bullau 2000 Udo Kühn (Hg.), Der alte Krimmler Tauernweg. Erbach-Bullau 1998 Stan Nadel, Ein Führer durch das jüdische Salzburg. Salzburg und Wien 2005 Harald Waitzbauer (Hg.), Das Krimmler Tauernhaus und seine Umgebung in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Neukirchen am Großvenediger 2000

Dr. Harald Waitzbauer is Historian, Open Air Museum Salzburg,www.freilichtmuseum.com

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