Hohenems

climate - Klimat

At the end of Klara's visit, we spent a day in Austria. Many young people in Austria, like Klara, have a Klimat Ticket. That means they pay a flat rate a year and can use any form of public transport in all of Austria.  So for Klara to visit us - it cost 30Euros (just the cost from the Austrian border to Zürich).   We said goodbye to Klara and B at the train station as they headed back to Vienna and we continued on to Hohenems.

Hohenems is in Vorarlberg, Austria. It is a small town, with a deep Jewish history.  We recently found out there was a Jewish museum and that intrigued us. Usually, the Jewish museums are in bigger cities and often many towns try to discourage remember "not so nice" historic components of the past. This is not the case for this town.

Hohenems has faced its history and acknowledges the past wrongs. As you walk down the streets, there are many reminders of the lost Jewish community. The fountain in one of the main areas lists the names of the Jewish members of the community and their professions at the start of the war. Here is the link to a video of the entire foundation.

In addition, the town has repaired the Jewish cemetery.  The cemetery is on the outskirts of town. After a lunch in a local restaurant with a school friend of Stephan, we walked there together.

We will return for a guided tour given by the museum of the Jewish history, including one important piece of WWII history. Hohenems played an important role in refugees escaping the Nazis. This town is the border to Switzerland. If refugees could get to Switzerland they were safe. There is a tour of the exact route they took to cross once the border was closed.   Swiss police commander, Paul Grüninger saved about 3600 Jewish refugees by backdating their documents and allowing them to pass to safety.  The bridge that one crosses to go over the river between the two countries is named after him.

The museum itself is small. However, the emotions are deep. Perhaps it was the timing of the current war, in moments in the top floor when they talked about the refugees efforts (and those left behind ) became extremely hard to process.