Retracing Footsteps of the Past

I have had the privilege of visiting numerous sites of the Holocaust across Europe over the past two decades. Travelling with survivors on these journeys, bearing witness to difficult parts of their stories as we walked in the footsteps of their past, has had a profound impact on my life and learning.

These past experiences were on my mind as I prepared for my latest adventure: travelling to the Czech Republic, Denmark and Sweden to retrace the steps of Nemka, the young woman I researched for my dissertation. I would be travelling with members of Nemka’s family as well. Having spent so much time with Nemka through her writing and video testimony, and learning about her through her family’s stories, I expected the journey to build on this initial connection I had experienced.

And it did . . . but it was also so much more.

I visited the homes where Nemka lived with her family in Prague and Úvaly in the Czech Republic. Standing outside the doors of these homes and walking the streets that she spoke about – passing by Youth Aliyah school, the theatre, the tennis court, parks around the Vlatava River where she would have walked her dog Bibi, the Jewish community centre . . . all spaces that shaped her early years.

Walking Axeltorv Square and searching the rooftop of #11, the home Nemka lived in, to see if we could find which room was hers when she lived with the Sauers in Næstved after escaping Nazism the first time. Driving the roads that she rode on her bike to meet friends, to go to school, to go to work, and eventually, in 1943, to escape Nazism a second time.

Taking in the aerial view of the Trelleborg harbour in Sweden where, after a harrowing 12-hour journey, Nemka’s escape boat landed and she found refuge once again. Spending time in all these places that she had spoken and written about . . . while time has passed and faces and business names may have changed, physically standing in these footsteps offered an intimate glimpse into this part of Nemka’s life and the experiences that shaped her.

And while Nemka’s story is certainly that of a teenage girl coming of age in the middle of war, it is also the story of resilience. The strength of the human spirit. How life goes on even in the most unimaginable circumstances. It’s the story of the strength and courage of family – Nemka’s parents choosing to send their daughter, their only child, away to the unknown in the middle of a war must have been the most onerous and devastating decision to make. 

Nemka’s story is also the story of innate goodness and kindness - the kind that’s not planned, it just shows up in the most unexpected places when it’s needed the most. Meeting the descendants of the Sauers and the Jensens, people who gave Nemka a home and helped her escape was a reminder of how pure and authentic their actions were. These people were not recognized with honours or celebrated in their communities because their actions were – according to everyone we encountered – simply “the right thing to do.” I was standing in these spaces with Nemka’s daughter and granddaughter, lives that were saved by the innate goodness and kindness that showed up when it was needed most.