Before The War

European Journal Summer 1939

In June 1939, Helen Gould, along with her fellow teacher, Ruth Young, and a group of their cycling friends, set out on an American Youth Hostel bicycle trip through Europe.

That trip was a journey through the last calm days before the terrible storm that was World War II.

Their plan was a simple one: a two-month bicycling trip through Holland, Germany, Switzerland, France, and England, organized by the American Youth Hostels. Their group was a mix of Americans. They were full of youthful excitement, eager for the experiences that lay ahead, blissfully ignorant of the history they were about to pedal through …