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Helmbrechts Walk, 1998–2003
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11 September 2026

Helmbrechts Walk, 1998-2003 is a memorial testament to the forced march of 580 female Jewish prisoners at the end of the Second World War. The march began on April 13th, 1945 in order to evacuate Helmbrechts, a small satellite camp of the Flossenbürg concentration camp.
This work is a visual representation of the 225 miles that the prisoners were forced to march from the camp in Germany into the occupied portion of Czechoslovakia, then known as the Sudetenland. Susan Silas set out to retrace the path of these women—22 days in Germany and the Czech Republic, on the 53rd anniversary of the march. Silas documented this journey on video, in still images and in writings, including this book, which contains 48 archival color plates.
The images are contextualized by a diary of the author's own experiences juxtaposed with news clips drawn from the front pages of The New York Times on the same days in 1998—thus drawing a connection between the violent events of the past and those being witnessed in the present.
In addition to the originally unbound artwork, this book includes a survivor interview with Halina Kleiner, a preface by the Holocaust scholar Brett Ashley Kaplan, and a remembrance of the women who died during this march.
HISTORY / Modern / 20th Century / Holocaust, The Holocaust, ART / Individual Artists / Artists' Books, PHOTOGRAPHY / Individual Photographers / Artists' Books, Essays, Photography and photographs
Susan Silas is an artist working in photography, video and sculpture. She is interested in the way historical forces intersect the personal and in how identity is formed. Susan Silas is a dual Hungarian and American national living and working in Brooklyn, New York, USA.
Preface: On Helmbrechts Walk, 1998–2003
Brett Ashley Kaplan
Preface:Über »Helmbrechts Walk, 1998–2003«
Brett Ashley Kaplan
The Project
Helmbrechts Walk 1998–2003
Epilogue
The Return
Standing in the Landscape and Return
Meditations
The Women
The Women
Interview
Introduction
Video Interview with Halina Kleiner
Volary
Maps
Maps
Documents
Documents from the National Archives
Excerpts from the Trial Transcript of Alois Dörr
Exhibition History and Bibliography
Acknowledgements