October 4, 2012 -- Terezín

October 4, 2012 -- Terezín

Day 2 in Prague was a sobering day.  We decided to take a tour of Terezín located about 60 kilometers north of Prague.  The Terezín Fortress was orginally built by Joseph II of Austria in 1780 in order to protect Prague from invaders from the north.  The Fortress at Terezín (Joseph II named it for his mother) consisted of a small and a large fortress.  The small fortress served as a prison at one time housing Gavrilo Princip, the man who assasinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.  The fortress never did provide any protection to Prague as the invaders simply avoided it.

Unfortunately, Hitler found other uses for Terezín (known at that time as Theresienstadt) during World War II.  He used the large fortress as a concentration camp (Jewish Ghetto).  The Nazis transported many Jews from the Czech lands as well as Jews from 8 other countries to the fortress.  Many of the Jewish people who were transported there were famous artists and musicians.  The people in these camps wrote and performed plays, concerts and operas.  A very famous children's opera -- Brundibar -- was written and performed at the camp.  The "residents" wrote poems and created drawings and paintings documenting their experiences in Terezín.  Unlike Auschwitz and other death camps, Terezín was never an extermination camp; however, almost 100,000 people died (15,000 of them were children) from disease brought on by horrible conditions --a lack of food, severe overcrowding (back in the days of Joseph II, Terezín had 5000 inhabitants -- at times under the Nazi regime it had approximately 55,000) and unsanitary conditions.  In addition to attic apartments, there were dormitories for men, women and children.  In the museum, we saw a number of collections -- children's drawings completed by the children while they were in the camp and other drawings and paintings created by artists depicting the conditions in Terezín.  For many, Terezín was merely a stop off before they were transported to the death camps in the east.

As word began to leak out about the Nazis practices, Hitler and the Nazis found another use for Terezín -- propaganda.  Claiming that they were protecting the Jewish people and giving them a better life, the  Nazis invited the Red Cross to visit the fortress to show them the town that had been established for the Jews.  Unfortunately, the Nazis had 14 months to prepare for the visit.  So that the camp did not appear too crowded they transported many Jewish people to death camps.  Then they cleaned, painted and even set up a Jewish bank and bakery (filling the bakery shelves).  The Red Cross observer, a gentleman in his mid-twenties from Switzerland, came to the camp looked around and wrote a report indicating that all was well.  The Nazis also shot a propaganda film in Terezîn.  The film was directed by a famous Jewish director who shortly after the film was completed was sent to Auschwitz and exterminated.  Only a few minutes of the film has survived.  It shows the Jewish community happily cheering at a soccer game.

We visited the small fortress first.  The small fortress served as a prison for political prisoners -- Jewish and non-prisoners.  If someone at the camp did not follow the rules, he/she was moved to the prison.  A group of artists were sent to the small fortress prison because they did a series of drawings documenting the horrible conditions at the camp and then attempted to smuggle them out of the camp.  Prisoners were executed at the camp, died from the horrible treatment and conditions or were transported to the death camps.

Below are the pictures that I took during our visit.  The first set of pictures are of the small fortress.

This is the pathway to the small fortress which was used as a prison.  To the
right of the photo is a graveyard where some of the people who
died were buried.  Many of these people died shortly after the camp was
liberated.

Small Fortress Wall surrounded by a moat

Entrance to the Small Fortress

Inside the Small Fortress -- Infamous sign that exists in the death camps
as well -- Work Makes You Free

Courtyard where the prisoners assembled each morning or any
time the guards summoned them -- Called Appel

Beds in one of the prison cells

Up to 60 people were in this cell when they were not working

This cell housed the "worst" political prisoners.  It is hard
to see but the small room would house 70
prisoners who could only stand side by side
and who were not permitted to lie down.  The
only window in the room was covered and
there were no sanitation facilities.  The picture
below shows the only place where air could get
into the room.

The only air vent for the prisoners room.

This picture and the one below are the machines
used to clean the prisoners clothes.  These machines
steamed the clothes leaving them wet.  After showering
no matter what the temperature the prisoners had
to put the wet clothes back on and resume working.

These are the showers in the prison camp.  These really are showers and not a
gas chamber as exterminations did not take place at Terezín.  However, these showers
look like the gas chambers in the death camps.  The Nazis had many routines and as a result
the Jews were unsuspecting when they entered the showers in the death camps.  It
was routine for the Nazis to transport the Jewish people to a camp, check them in and then
send them to the showers.

This is a wash room in the prison.  The tour guide
said that these sinks were probably never used
but were installed just prior to the Red Cross visit.

Here is a little bit of the history from 1780.  This
is one of many tunnels in the fortress.  These tunnels
were built so that the soldiers could quickly move from
place to place when defending the fortress.  We walked
about 5 to 7 minutes underground through one of these
tunnels to get to the execution place at the prison.

Tunnel Exit

One of the embankments in the fortress -- notice the grass used as
camoflauge back in the 1780s.

Back to WWII history, this is where many prisoners were executed by firing squads

The gallows.

Although the prisoners hardly ever showered due to a lack of water, it did
not stop the Nazis from building this pool for the soldiers and their
families.  Just on the other side of the wall is the place where
executions took place.

Housing for the Commanders, soldiers and their families

Dining Facilites for the Commanders

The pictures below are of the large fortress -- the concentration camp.

Original train tracks that went directly into Terezín.  Orginally
the Jewish transports had to walk a good distance
to the camp through town.  In order to make it
easier to transport the Jews and so that the Jews would
not create a spectacle walking through town, the
Nazis had the prisoners extend the tracks right into the camp.

This is an attic residence for a Jewish family, likely a Danish Jewish family.
Because of the relationship between the Nazis and Denmark officials
the Danish Jews were generally given better treatment.

Clothing worn in the camp.  The "residents"

never wore prison clothing.  This was all part of

the propaganda -- the Nazis did not want anyone
to see them in prison garb.

An Attic Stage Set for a Performance 

A drawing depicting the Children's Opera -- Brundibar

One of the men's dormitories in the camp.

Famous Jewish Director who directed the Nazi propaganda
movie that was filmed at Terezín.

The square that is pictured in the propaganda film.  To the left is the
bakery that only had baked goods the day the Red Cross came and to the right
center is the Jewish bank whose currency was worthless.  In the film, men are playing
soccer as others watch happily from the stands.

This is the crematorium built by the prisoners.  Although Terezín was
not an extermination camp, more than 150 people were dying every day
because of disease caused by the terrible conditions.  Because they
could not bury all of the bodies, the Nazis had the cremitorium built.

Sources:  Much of the information in the body of the Blog page and the picture captions I obtained from the two tour guides, our guide from Whittman Tours and the guide in the small fortress hired by the historical site.