APC has now built seven memorial pyramids along the historic escape route between Krimml (Austria) and Kasern (Italy). In the coming years, this project is to be expanded, on the one hand along the further escape route of the Jews in 1947 via Merano, Genoa and Cyprus to Israel, and on the other hand back to the starting point of the escape movement in Eastern Europe, where a pyramid is to be erected in Kielce.
The project follows a transnational and integrative approach with the aim of concretely cooperating with local organizations, institutions and/or committed individuals at each of the places of remembrance. The aim of this cooperation is to raise awareness of this historical topic at the respective places of remembrance.
Kielce: More than 40 Polish Jews were murdered in the Kielce pogrom on July 4, 1946. This pogrom is considered to be one of the triggers of the Jewish flight movements from Eastern Europe, which was to lead some of the refugees over the Krimml Tauern.
Saalfelden: The Jewish transit camp Givat Avoda (“Hill of Labor”) in Saalfelden (at the site of today’s Anton Wallner Barracks), which opened in the summer of 1946, assumed a central function as a hub on the escape route. Although the camp itself was under U.S. administration, it also had its own camp leadership, whose members were part of the Bricha and organized regular crossings of the Krimml Tauern.
Merano: After reaching the Tauern heights, the fugitives headed down toward Kasern in the Ahrntal valley in Italy. The Italian border authorities checked here only very rarely and rather pro forma. Only occasionally were fugitives turned back at this border crossing. Once in Kasern, the majority of the Jews were taken by the Bricha to Merano or Milan in Red Cross vehicles.
Genoa: From the Italian ports, the refugees were subsequently smuggled by ship in the direction of Palestine. In the Italian port city of Genoa, many of the fugitives embarked for what they hoped would be the last stage of their escape.
Cyprus: However, as the British Mandate administration attempted to stop illegal immigration, many of those who fled were interned in Cyprus for shorter and longer periods of time.
Haifa: Eretz Israel (“the land of Israel(s)”) was the declared goal of many who had mastered the arduous flight over the Krimml Tauern. Accordingly, on the territory of today’s Israel, a whole series of sites lends itself to potential pyramid erections. As a first step, memorial sites in the surroundings of Haifa, namely at the former Atlit Camp, a detention camp for “illegal” migrants, and at the HaBricha hiking trail in the Karmel Mountains are being considered.