REGISTRATION FOR THIS YEAR’S MEMORIAL HIKE IS UNFORTUNATELY NO LONGER POSSIBLE – WE ARE ALREADY FULLY BOOKED!
Sport as a Playing Field of the Nazi Dictatorship
Community, Coercion, Exclusion
This year’s commemorative events are held under the central theme “Sport as a Playing Field of the Nazi Dictatorship: Community, Coercion, Exclusion.” The Nazi regime turned the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin into a stage for its propagandistic self-presentation. Two years later, Leni Riefenstahl’s two-part propaganda film Olympia reinforced both the staging of National Socialist–fascist strength and modernity and the image of a strong, healthy, and mass-mobilizable “German national body” in cinemas, including internationally.
Hardly any other sphere of society illustrates as clearly as sport how intensively the Nazi regime manipulated bodies, performance, and notions of community for its ideology. Sport was not merely physical exercise—it became a tool of political formation, an aestheticization of power, and preparation for war.
The 1936 Olympic Games demonstrated sport as a spectacle of superiority, as the staging of a racist world order, and as a propaganda event that has left a lasting imprint on collective memory. Yet sport was and is also a lived practice of resistance. This is reflected not least in the core of our association’s work, the annual commemorative hike over the Krimmler Tauern, as a form of remembrance practice.
The year 2026 is a good moment to ask: which structures, images, and narratives persist in our present—and how can we oppose them?
The memorial hike that follows on July 5, 2026 takes the participants over the Krimmler Tauern to Kasern (South Tyrol/Alto Adige). The hike takes you along the historic escape route through which several thousand Jews were able to escape from Austria via Italy to what was then Mandatory Palestine. The hike is accompanied by input on the historical escape as well as current references.
Program:
Saturday, 4th of July 2026, 14:00-19:00: Dialogue Forum Krimml
Location: Krimml Elementary School
Admission from 1:00 p.m., opportunity to view the traveling exhibition Overcoming Borders – Jewish Escape in the Salzburg High Mountains in 1947.
2:00 p.m. Start of the dialogue forum
This is followed by the content-related part of the Krimml Dialogue Forum with a concluding buffet.
(Full day: Check-in at the Krimml Tourist Office (Oberkrimml 37, 5743 Krimml)).
Sunday, 5th of July 2026, from 6:00: Memorial Hike
On our Memorial Hike we will follow the traces of the 1947 escape, crossing the Krimmler Tauern and hiking to Kasern in South Tyrol/Alto Adige. The hike leads through high alpine terrain up to the altitude of 2,634m. The walking time alone is 8 hours. Appropriate physical condition, hiking boots, weather protection, drinks, snacks and hiking poles are required!
Alternatively, two shorter variants are also possible, which are less strenuous and turn around before crossing the pass.
Please note that you must decide on one of the variants when registering and no changes are possible at short notice, as we have to plan the respective transfers with cabs and buses in advance.
Procedure of the hike
06:00 Departure with cabs from the Krimml Tourist Office to the Krimmler Tauernhaus
07:00 Krimmler Tauernhaus – welcome and joint departure
08:00 Grove of Flight – 1st stop with input
09:00 Windbachalm – 2nd station with supporting program (turning point of the short variant – return to the Tauernhaus approx. 11:30, from there on foot or by Tauern cab back to Krimml)
11:00 Pyramid at the end of the valley – 3rd stop with social program (return point of the middle variant – return to the Tauernhaus approx. 15:00, from there on foot or by Tauerntaxi back to Krimml)
approx. 16:00 arrival of the standard variant in Kasern (South Tyrol/Alto Adige), reception with buffet by the local mayors, afterwards return transfer by bus to Krimml – arrival in Krimml approx. 21:30
Note: Should you wish to stay overnight in South Tyrol/Alto Adige from Sunday to Monday, please note that the room booking in Ahrntal and, if necessary, the return hike or transfer to Krimml must be made independently and self-organized.
Important additional info:
- Please do not forget to bring enough cash if you want to stop at the Tauernhaus – there is no possibility to pay by card here.
- Please bring your own snacks/drinks for the hike.
- Please bring appropriate hiking boots, hiking poles and clothes.
- Please note that animals are not allowed.
- We reserve the right, after consulting the participating medical personnel and mountain rescue service, to send back people who are not fit enough (for the hike).
Registration information
Registration is no longer possible – we are already fully booked.
Costs: The package includes participation in all events and buffets on Saturday (Dialogue Forum) and Sunday (only for the standard option upon arrival in Kasern), all taxi/bus transfers and accompaniment of the hike by mountain rescue and national park rangers.
- Option 1: APC Memorial Hike short variant to Windbachalm: flat rate per person € 75,-.
- Option 2: APC Memorial Hike middle variant to the pyramid at the end of the valley: flat rate per person € 75,-.
- Option 3: APC Memorial Hike standard variant Krimmler Tauern – Ahrntal: Package per person € 85,-.
Information on accommodation options can be found in the registration form.
Cancellation conditions: Cancellation of the participation fee is possible up to 14 days before the event, after which 100% of the costs must be borne by yourself. Please note that the respective accommodations sometimes have different cancellation conditions for overnight stays.
Please do not hesitate to contact us at office@alpinepeacecrossing.org for any queries. For all questions regarding room bookings on site, please contact the TOURISMUSVERBAND KRIMML/HOCHKRIMML (Tel.: + 43 (0)6564 7239-11; Mail: info@krimml.at).
There will be no theatre hike this year.
Looking forward to welcome you in Krimml!