MuRem

Content / Topics:

Thousands of refugees tried to reach Switzerland via Vorarlberg between March 1938 and May 1945: Persecuted Jews, political opponents of the Nazis, deserters, prisoners of war, forced and foreign laborers from occupied European countries. As early as the summer of 1938, Switzerland began to seal off its borders to the refugees. Escape helpers on both sides of the border were still able to help individuals. But for all of them, there were now only illegal routes to freedom.

Along bike route No. 1, from Bregenz to Partenen, and at selected locations in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, symbolic border stones mark 52 audio posts about these refugees’ personal stories, and invite you via QR code to engage with the history of the place in question, to pause and pay attention to the surroundings.

The experiences of these refugees are reflected in personal letters, documents from the German and Swiss authorities, memories of contemporary witnesses and photographs of the sites. From them, an impression of the events of that time emerges from many perspectives – to hear, to read and to see. On the road by bike between lake and mountains, on both sides of the Rhine, both sides of a border that still today divides and connects at the same time.

The mobile audio trail “Crossing The Border” is a project of the Jewish Museum Hohenems in cooperation with: erinnern.at, Bodensee Vorarlberg Tourismus, Land Vorarlberg, Tourismus & Stadtmarketing Hohenems, Stadt Hohenems, Stadt Feldkirch, Marktgemeinde Lustenau, Stadt Bregenz, Stadt Bludenz, Stadt Dornbirn, Marktgemeinde Hard, the Vorarlberg communities of Höchst, Altach, Mäder, Koblach, Meiningen, Schruns, Tschagguns, St. Gallenkirch and Partenen, the Swiss municipalities of St. Margrethen, Au, Widnau, Diepoldsau, Oberriet and Buchs, and the Liechtenstein municipality of Mauren.

Target groups: No specific target groups.

Method / Format: Mobile audio trail.

Language(s): German, English.