The Bricha Legacy Association was established with the aim of documenting, preserving, presenting and imparting the legacy of the Bricha movement that operated in Europe between 1945 and 1949, from the end of the war until after the establishment of the State of Israel.
The Bricha was responsible for organizing the migration of about three hundred thousand Jewish refugees, survivors of the Holocaust, from Eastern Europe to the ports of the Mediterranean, on their way to Eretz Ysrael. The Bricha movement on the Continent’s roads, continued by the Ha’apala movement in the Mediterranean, both illegal movements, constitute together a glorious chapter in the modern history of the Jewish people. It is a chapter of heroism and courage, initiative and trickery, sacrifice and love of the people and the homeland.
The story of the Bricha is unfamiliar to many, and is not commemorated appropriately. We at the Bricha Heritage Association work to give this chapter its proper place in the collective memory, and to raise awareness to its achievements.
The Association, which is composed entirely of volunteers, carries out conferences, seminars and exhibitions. We participate in school events, we collect testimonies, photographs, documents, forged documents, letters and objects from the period, develop and use educational and training programs on Bricha and have published books and movies on Bricha.
We organize at least once a year a tour to Europe, passing through locations that were significant in the activities of Bricha, and we also regularly participate in the yearly Alpine Peace Crossing event from Austria to Italy.
Together with the JNF, we have established the Bricha-trail in the Carmel mountains, where people can learn about the Bricha in tours guided by our volunteers.
We are also establishing physical locations to commemorate the Bricha. In Ramat Hasharon there is a garden dedicated to the Bricha. There are approved plans to place a Bricha memorial stone in the official “Joining trail” between Yad Vashem and Har Herzl in Jerusalem. We have plans to complete a Bricha Memorial at the entrance to the Ma’apilim-boat in the Naval musum in Haifa, to create a commemoration area for the help of the US Army Rabbis to the survivors, and eventually to establish a permanent museum exhibit of the Bricha in the Atlit Detention Camp.
We invite people who took part in Bricha, their relatives, the next generations and the general public to join the association.
