They fled the Nazis through the mountains – their great-grandchildren are making the same journey

over its hills mountainIt was across the border Land Ha PrepareSpain’s Neutral Zone – Smuggler, A Second chancefuture.

Behind them was Nazi-occupied France and imprisonment or certain death. during the world war ii, A dangerous route through the Pyrenees provided a way for hundreds of thousands of resistance fighters, civilians, Jews and Allied soldiers who had fled to avoid Nazi persecution.

For many, through the upward flight rocky rocks And the frozen glaciers were the last stretch in a long and perilous journey through wartime Europe, hidden from the German army, Gestapo secret police and paramilitary forces.

The way starts from Areej Pyrenees From France, Passage includes as well as the 87 people who marched from France to Spain, including the descendants of those who escaped, walking just to honor their relatives.

The Freedom Trail, whose final ascent becomes a winding path through a sheet of ice, is an annual “itinerant Set upsays Englishman Paul Williams, mountain guide and keeper of local history.

Officially recognized by a French presidential decree in 1994 to mark the 50th anniversary of the D-Day D-Day landings that began the liberation of France, the trip remembers those who fled to Spain during the war. Previous hikers include Luke Janiszewski, a 25-year-old from the Baltimore area.

“I tried many times to think that my great-grandfather did this at the risk of his life and was saved in the end.”

First Lieutenant Richard Christenson, a B-17 pilot, was shot down over northern France and landed in the Pyrenees while the war was still going on. He returns home to live out the rest of his days with his wife, Ruth.

Daughter Katrie, 81, who wrote a book about his escape, and grandchildren Mary, 52, and Tim, 54, have joined the grandkids. lok And Jake To walk in 2018, the 25th anniversary of the plane crash.

the second weekend From July every year, this trip creates its own memories. This year was dedicated in particular to Paul Bruet, a French resistance fighter and one of its founders Freedom Trail Association.

Born in July 9, 1923, He made his escape over the Pyrenees in July 1944. If he had not died in 2020, this year would have been his 100th birthday.

Broue was it incarnation From local wartime stories – not just the mountain guide ‘passengers’ but the families who hid, guided and died helping men like Christenson.

about 50% of British And The Americans The escapees passed through this region of mountains, according to Guy Serris, a retired French colonel who is now the head of the Free Trade Agreement, which organizes the four-day, 40-mile journey.

Ceres is also a local, from sixa town nestled in the lush forest foothills is the first stop on the way, where the local sheriff hosts a “vin d’honneur” dinner to mark the occasion.

“The town and people of Seix see it as an honor, given the role the community played during the war,” Ceres told CNN.

This year in his speeches at They walkedHe asserted that those who were old enough, who had fought in the war “or lived it or heard of it mostly from home”, had a duty to tell the younger generations. These are the memories that walkers take with them to Spain.

the two countries A shared life is a must mountains – the life of pine trees and herds of cows that borders cannot separate.

They climbed the mountains to escape the Nazis. Now their great-grandchildren are making the same journeyBy Oliver Briscoe, CNN