locale: Czech Republic
type: holding center/transit
usage: Nov 1941-may 1945
closure: liberation (USSR)
present: monument
As Hitler transported tens of thousands of communal objects to Prague, their owners were rounded up and shipped first to a city built northwest of Prague in 1780 by Joseph II. Ironically, this city served as a fortress to protect Prague from invaders to the north. Joseph II named this village after his mother, Maria Teresia, calling it Terezin.
Hitler, the world was to be told, had built a city for the Jews, to protect them from the vagaries and stresses of the war. A film was made to show this mythic, idyllic city to which his henchmen were taking the Jews from the Czech Lands and eight other countries. Notable musicians, writers, artists, and leaders were sent there for “safer” keeping than was to be afforded elsewhere in Hitler’s quest to stave off any uprisings or objections around the so-called civilized world. This ruse worked for a very long time, to the great detriment of the nearly two hundred thousand men, women and children who passed through its gates as a way station to the east and probable death.
Of the vast majority of Czech Jews who were taken to Terezin (or Theresienstadt), 97,297 died among whom were 15,000 children. Only 132 of those children were known to have survived.
The Red Cross was allowed to visit Terezin once. The village of Terezin was spruced up for the occasion. Certain inmates were dressed up and told to stand at strategic places along the specially designated route through Terezin. Shop windows along that carefully guarded path were filled with goods for the day. One young mother remembers seeing the bakery window and shelves suddenly filled with baked goods the inmates had never seen during their time at Terezin. Even the candy shop window overflowed with bon bons creating a fantastic illusion she would never forget.
When the Red Cross representative appeared before this young mother, she remembers being asked how it was to live in Terezin during those days. Her reply implored the questioner to look around. Be sure and look around, as she herself rolled her own widely opened eyes around in an exaggerated manner. The Red Cross reported dryly that while war time conditions made all life difficult, life at Terezin was acceptable given all of the pressures. The Red Cross concluded that the Jews were being treated all right.
There were so many musicians in Terezin, there could have been two full symphony orchestras performing simultaneously daily. In addition, there were a number of chamber orchestras playing at various times. A number of distinguished composers created works at Terezin including Brundibar or the Bumble Bee, a children’s operetta and a number of chamber compositions which only now are being resurrected and played in Europe and the United States.
Terezin developed a deep feeling of family according to many of the survivors. As larger numbers of people were crammed into smaller spaces, a sense of community deepened. In the town of Terezin, the population had normally been around 5,000 people before the war. At the height of the war, the Ghetto/Concentration Camp Terezin held over 55,000 Jews. As a consequence, starvation and disease proved rampant. Thousands died of malnutrition and exposure. Their bodies were cremated at the small crematorium with its four gas ovens.
This was not a death camp, by the usual definition. There is no way to compare Terezin to Auschwitz-Birkenau or Treblinka or any of the other death camps where hundreds of thousands were gassed or murdered in other ways each year. Terezin, by comparison was a place to which people would apply so as to avoid a worse fate.
The elderly and families were brought in large numbers to Terezin. Then, in large groups, they were transported to the east, to Auschwitz-Birkenau, when it was fully operational in late 1942. There, the elderly were sent immediately to the gas chambers while the younger inmates who still could work, were temporarily spared. Terezin families were, in some instances, kept together at Birkenau, in family barracks, until their fate was met.
The Little Fortress at Terezin, a star-shaped thick-walled fortress, had long served as a prison. Few people were incarcerated here from the time it was opened in 1780 to Hitler, the one exception being the assassins of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife in 1914. The Nazis brought political prisoners and others to this hellish place never to emerge again. It was here that the Jewish artists were sent after having been caught stealing paper and other supplies with which they produced writings that recorded daily life in Terezin. It was their work which allowed the outside world to know dramatically about life in Terezin.
These artists also stole materials so the children could surreptitiously create their works of art. Six thousand drawings were hidden and later successfully retrieved to be displayed telling their poignant stories to thousands of viewers in Prague, Israel and at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
THE BEGINNINGS
By 1941, conditions for Czech Jews were growing worse. The Nazis were in the process of creating a plan of how to treat and how to deal with Czechs and Czech-Jews. The Czech-Jewish community had already felt pangs of loss and disunion since several transports had already been sent East. Jakob Edelstein, a prominent member of the Czech-Jewish community, believed that it would be better for his community for them to be concentrated locally rather than sent to the East. At the same time, the Nazis were facing two dilemmas. The first dilemma was what to do with the prominent Jews that were being carefully watched and looked after by Aryans. Since most Jews were sent on transports under the pretension of “work,” the second dilemma was how could the Nazis peacefully transport the elderly Jewish generation. Though Edelstein had hoped that the ghetto would be located in a section of Prague, the Nazis chose the garrison town of Terezin. Terezin is located approximately ninety miles north of Prague and just south of Litomerice. The town was originally built in 1780 by Emperor Joseph II of Austria and named after his mother, Empress Maria Theresa. Terezin consisted of the Big Fortress and the Small Fortress. The Big Fortress was surrounded by ramparts and contained barracks. After 1882, Terezin was no longer used as a fortress. For the next several decades, the garrison town of Terezin remained virtually the same, almost entirely separated from the rest of the countryside. The Small Fortress was used as a prison for dangerous criminals. Terezin changed dramatically when the Nazis renamed it Theresienstadt and sent the first Jewish transports there in November 1941.
INITIAL CONDITIONS
The Nazis sent approximately 1,300 Jewish men on two transports to Theresienstadt on November 24 and December 4, 1941. These workers made up the Aufbaukommando (construction detail), later known in the camp as AK1 and AK2. These men were sent to transform the garrison town. The largest and most serious problem they faced was metamorphosing a town which in 1940 held approximately 7,000 residents into a concentration camp which needed to hold about 35,000 to 60,000. Besides the lack of housing, bathrooms were scarce, water was severely limited and contaminated, and the town lacked sufficient electricity. To solve these problems, to enact German orders, as well as coordinate the day to day affairs of the ghetto, the Nazis appointed Jakob Edelstein as the Judenälteste (Elder of the Jews) and a Judenrat (Jewish Council) was established. As the Jews worked to transform Theresienstadt, the population of Theresienstadt watched on. Though a few residents attempted to give the Jews assistance in small ways, their mere presence increased the restrictions on Jews’ mobility. There would soon come a day when the Theresienstadt residents would be evacuated and the Jews would be isolated and completely dependent on the Germans. Ghetto Theresienstadt has long been remembered for its culture, its famous prisoners, and its visit by Red Cross officials. What many don’t know is that within this serene facade lay a real concentration camp. With nearly sixty thousand Jews inhabiting an area originally designed for only seven thousand – extremely close quarters, disease, and lack of food were serious concerns. But in many ways, life – and death – within Theresienstadt became focused on the frequent transports to Auschwitz.
ARRIVAL
When arriving at Theresienstadt there was a great mixture of how much people knew about their new home. Some, like Norbert Troller, had enough information in advance to know to hide items and valuables. Others, especially the elderly, were duped by the Nazis to believe that they were going to a resort or spa. Many elderly actually paid large sums of money for a nice location within their new home. When they arrived, they were housed in the same small spaces, if not smaller, as everyone else. To get to Theresienstadt, thousands of Jews, from orthodox to assimilated, were deported from their old homes. At first, many of the deportees were Czech, but later many German, Austrian, and Dutch Jews arrived. These Jews were crammed in cattle cars with little or no water, food, or sanitation. The trains unloaded at Bohusovice, the nearest train station to Theresienstadt, approximately 2 km away. The deportees were then forced to disembark and march the rest of the way to Theresienstadt – carrying all of their luggage. Once the deportees reached Theresienstadt, they went to the checking point (called “floodgate” or “Schleuse” in camp slang). The deportees then had their personal information written down and placed in an index. Then, they were searched. Most especially, the Nazis or Czech gendarmes were looking for jewelry, money, cigarettes, as well as other items not allowed in the camp such as hot plates and cosmetics. During this initial process, the deportees were assigned to their “housing.”
HOUSING
One of the many problems with pouring thousands of human beings into a small space has to do with housing. Where were 60,000 people going to sleep in a town meant to hold 7,000? This was a problem that the Ghetto administration was constantly trying to find solutions for. Triple-tiered bunk beds were made and every available floor space was used. In August 1942 (camp population not yet at its highest point), the allotted space per person was two square yards – this included per person usage/need for lavatory, kitchen, and storage space. The living/sleeping areas were covered with vermin. These pests included, but certainly were not limited to, rats, fleas, flies, and lice. Norbert Troller wrote about his experiences “Coming back from such surveys [of the housing], our calves were bitten and full of fleas that we could only remove with kerosene.” The housing was separated by sex. Women and children under twelve were separated from the men and the boys over age twelve. Food was also a problem. In the beginning there weren’t even enough cauldrons to cook food for all of the inhabitants. In May 1942, rationing with differential treatment to different segments of society was established. Ghetto inhabitants who worked at hard labor received the most food while the elderly received the least. The food scarcity affected the elderly the most. Lack of nourishment, lack of medicines, and general susceptibility to illness made their fatality rate extremely high.
DEATH
Initially, those who had died were wrapped in a sheet and buried. But the lack of food, lack of medicines, and lack of space soon took its toll on Theresienstadt’s population and corpses began to outgrow the possible locations for graves. In September 1942, a crematorium was built. There were no gas chambers built with this crematorium, it was built to dispose of the growing number of corpses. The crematorium could dispose of 190 corpses per day. Once the ashes were searched for melted gold (from teeth), the ashes were placed in a cardboard box and stored. Near the end of the war, the Nazis tried to cover their tracks by disposing of the ashes. They disposed of the ashes by dumping 8,000 cardboard boxes into a pit and dumping 17,000 boxes into the Ohre River. Though the mortality rate in the camp was high, the largest fear lay in the transports.
TRANSPORTS TO THE EAST
Within the original transports into Theresienstadt, many had hoped that living in Theresienstadt would preclude them from being sent East and that their stay would last the duration of the war. On January 5, 1942 (less than two months since the arrival of the first transports in), their hopes were shattered – Daily Order No. 20 announced the first transport out of Theresienstadt. Transports left Theresienstadt frequently and each one was made up of one thousand to five thousand Theresienstadt prisoners. The Nazis decided how many people were to be on each transport but they decided to place the burden of who was to go, on the Jews themselves. The Council of Elders became responsible for fulfilling the Nazis’ quotas. Life or death became reliant on exclusion from the transports East – or “protection.” Automatically, all members of the AK1 and AK2 were exempted from transports and five members of their closest family. Other major ways to become protected were those working in jobs that helped the German war effort, important workers in the Ghetto administration, or being on someone else’s list. Finding ways to keep yourself and your family on a protection list, thus off the transports, became a major endeavor of each Ghetto inhabitant. Though some inhabitants were able to find protection, nearly one-half to two-thirds of the population were not protected. For every transport, the bulk of the Ghetto population feared that their name would be chosen.
THE EMBELLISHMENT
On October 5, 1943, the first Danish Jews were transported into Theresienstadt. Soon after their arrival, the Danish Red Cross and the Swedish Red Cross began inquiring about their whereabouts and their condition. The Nazis decided to let them visit one location that would prove to the Danes and to the world that Jews were living under humane conditions. But how could they change an overcrowded, pest infected, ill-nourished, and high mortality-rate camp into a spectacle for the world? In December 1943, the Nazis told the Council of Elders of Theresienstadt about the Embellishment. The commander of Theresienstadt, SS Colonel Karl Rahm, took control of planning. An exact route was planned for the visitors to take. All buildings and grounds along this route were to be enhanced by green turf, flowers, and benches. A playground, sports fields, and even a monument were added. Prominent and Dutch Jews had their billets enlarged, as well as had furniture, drapes, and flower boxes added. But even with the physical transformation of the Ghetto, Rahm thought that the Ghetto was too crowded. On May 12, 1944, Rahm ordered the deportation of 7,500 inhabitants. In this transport, the Nazis decided that all orphans and most of the sick should be included to help the facade that the Embellishment was creating. The Nazis, so clever at creating facades, didn’t miss a detail. They erected a sign over a building that read “Boys’ School” as well as another sign that read “closed during holidays.” Needless to say, no one ever attended the school. On the day that the commission arrived, June 23, 1944, the Nazis were fully prepared. As the tour commenced, well-rehearsed actions took place that were created specially for the visit. Bakers baking bread, a load of fresh vegetables being delivered, and workers singing were all queued by messengers who ran ahead of the entourage. After the visit, the Nazis were so impressed with their propaganda feat that they decided to make a film.
THE END
Once the Embellishment was over, the residents of Theresienstadt knew there would be further deportations. On September 23, 1944, the Nazis ordered a transport of 5,000 able-bodied men. The Nazis had decided to liquidate the Ghetto and initially chose able-bodied men to be on the first transport because they were the most likely to rebel. Soon after the 5,000 were deported, another order came for 1,000 more. The Nazis were able to manipulate some of the remaining Jews by offering some of those who had just sent family members an opportunity to join them by volunteering for the next transport. After these, transports continued to leave Theresienstadt frequently. All exemptions and “protection” were abolished; the Nazis now chose who was to go on each transport. Deportations continued through October. After these transports, only 400 able-bodied men, plus women, children, and elderly were left within the Ghetto. What was going to happen to these remaining inhabitants? The Nazis couldn’t come to an agreement. Some hoped that they could still cover the inhumane conditions that the Jews has suffered through and thus soften their punishment after the war. Other Nazis realized that there would be no clemency and wanted to dispose of all the incriminating evidence, including the remaining Jews. No real decision was made and in some ways, both were implemented. In the course of trying to look good, the Nazis made a few deals with Switzerland. Even a transport of Theresienstadt inhabitants were sent there. In April 1945, transports and death marches reached Theresienstadt. Several of these prisoners had left Theresienstadt just months before. These groups were being evacuated from concentration camps such as Auschwitz and Ravensbruck and other camps farther East. As the Red Army pushed the Nazis farther back, they evacuated the camps. Some of these prisoners arrived on transports while many others arrived on foot. They were in terrible ill-health and some carried typhus. Theresienstadt was unprepared for the large numbers that entered and were unable to properly quarantine those with contagious diseases; thus, a typhus epidemic broke out within Theresienstadt. Besides typhus, these prisoners brought the truth about the transports East. No longer could Theresienstadt inhabitants hope that the East was not as terrible as the rumors suggested – instead, it was much worse. On May 3, 1945, the Ghetto Theresienstadt was placed under the protection of the International Red Cross. transports carried 87,000 people from Terezin eastward; of those, 83,000 were murdered, tortured to death, or perished on forced marches.
Concentration Camps of WWII 