The Story of the Jewish Community in Bratislava

The Bratislava Community After the Holocaust

The Return to Life

Jewish Refugees and the Bricha

Polish Holocaust survivors disembarking from a train along the route of the Bricha Polish Holocaust survivors disembarking from a train along the route of the Bricha Members of a youth movement traveling by train to Bratislava, 1946 Holocaust survivors wait by the Jelen hotel, en route to Western Europe. Czechoslovakia, 1946 Registration of Holocaust survivors by UNRRA (the United Nations Agency for Relief and Rehabilitation ), Czechoslovakia Registration of Holocaust survivors by UNRRA (the United Nations Agency for Relief and Rehabilitation ), Czechoslovakia Holocaust survivors in Bratislava on a train to Vienna. The caption in the album reads, “Next stop Vienna, then Eretz Israel” Holocaust survivors in Bratislava about to board a train for Vienna Holocaust survivor bids farewell to a soldier from the Jewish Brigade at a train station along the route of the Bricha. Czechoslovakia Three child survivors of the Holocaust, about to board a train along the route of the Bricha. Czechoslovakia Distribution of Passover rations, in Czechoslovakia, to Holocaust survivors along the route of the Bricha Child survivors of the Holocaust with their chaperone, in Czechoslovakia, about to board a train bound for Western Europe Youngsters waiting for a train bound for Western Europe, Bratislava, 1946 Youngsters waiting for a train bound for Western Europe, Bratislava, 1946 Youngsters waiting for a train bound for Western Europe, Bratislava, 1946

During the first months after the war, Bratislava functioned as one of the largest and most important transit stations of the Bricha. Some 100,000 Jewish refugees from Poland, Romania, Hungary and other Eastern European countries made their way to the city, where, aided by the local Jewish community and the Joint Distribution Committee, they sought their relatives and acquaintances. The Austrian border was not far from the city, and most of the refugees crossed this border on their way to the Displaced Persons camps in Germany, Austria and Italy, from where they continued to Israel or the United States. Only a small fraction chose to return to their countries of origin in Eastern Europe.

The Bricha’s coordination office was managed by Levi Argov, an emissary from Eretz Israel, who worked predominantly at his own initiative and prepared travel plans from Poland to the West.