Souvenir from the Resort – Bad Reichenhall DP camp
In the winter of 5706 (1946), eighty years ago, an emotional bar mitzvah was held in the Bad Reichenhall DP camp.
The place, which today constitutes a spectacular tourist gem, was converted during this period, exactly eighty years ago, by the American Army into a displaced persons camp for over 5,000 Jewish Holocaust refugees.
Bad Reichenhall is a health resort town in Bavaria, Germany, which serves as the administrative center of the Berchtesgadener district. The town is located in a mountainous area in the Alps, near the border with Austria and the city of Salzburg, and is surrounded by high mountains such as Mount Staufen and Mount Zwiesel.
Religious institutions, Torah schools, and synagogues operated in the displaced persons camp. The “United States Holocaust Memorial Museum” features rare photos of Jewish life in this camp, which, by the way, was an important stop on the route of the Holocaust survivors’ illegal immigration to the Land of Israel in 5706 (1946).
A wedding in Bad Reichenhall, 5706 (1946). Courtesy of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Children with kippahs and peyos (sidelocks), Bad Reichenhall DP camp, 1946. Courtesy of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
However, recently, a collection of photos and postcards from the Bad Reichenhall DP camp was offered for sale on an online auction site.
The photos caught the eye of a Jerusalem Jew, a writer and historian, and he is asking our readers to identify the subject of the following photo and his story.
This is the photo for sale on Ebay, and the writing on the back of the image:
“Given to my dear grandmother, as a memento of my bar mitzvah, your grandson Izur [Isser] 6.1.1946” (translation from a rather sloppy Romanian).
Many snowflakes have fallen during the eighty years since the Holocaust survivors stayed in Bad Reichenhall, and today the place and its surroundings are considered a desirable and expensive vacation spot. Here are current photos from Bad Reichenhall.
