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The Holocaust: Terezin Concentration Camp. History. Terezin originally was a walled city and small fortress in Czechoslovakia built in the 1800’s to protect the river and roads in the area When Nazi Germany took over much of Czechoslovakia in 1939, they renamed the town of 7000 Theresienstadt
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History • Terezin originally was a walled city and small fortress in Czechoslovakia built in the 1800’s to protect the river and roads in the area • When Nazi Germany took over much of Czechoslovakia in 1939, they renamed the town of 7000 Theresienstadt • Plans began to convert the town and fortress into a concentration camp for Jews and other “non-Aryans”
Construction • Construction to convert the village and fortress into a concentration camp began in 1940 • Work was done by two groups of Jewish slave labor from another camp Guards lead workers preparing the camp
Purposes of Terezin Camp • Terezin was not an extermination camp such as Auschwitz and other “death camps” in Poland • The camp was mainly designed as a slave labor camp (prisoners were forced to work) and a transit camp (prisoners were sent here for a short time before being sent to death camps further east) • Terezin was unique because it was also used by the Nazis for propaganda. Originally, well- known Jewish artists and musicians were sent here so that their German supporters, and the world, would believe they, and other Jews, were being treated fairly well, as the Nazi’s claimed
Location and Population • Terezin was located in Czechoslovakia • It was about 35 miles north of the large city Prague • Most of its later prisoners were Czechoslovakian Jews and other “non-Aryans”, but people from over 25 countries were eventually sent to Terezin Terezin Prague
Camp Layout • Terezin had two main parts, the fortress and the village • The village was converted to a “ghetto” or place to crowd in and concentrate Jews and others behind walls • The fortress was used for administration and as a place to hold and punish those who had violated rules Fortress Walled Village (became ghetto)
Terezin Ghetto • The Terezin ghetto was simply the village converted to a concentration camp with walls and barbed wire • The village, before the Nazis, had 7000 non-Jewish people, all who had to leave by early 1942 • At it’s height, Terezin held over 55,000 people • The Jews had to choose their own leaders to run the ghetto according to Nazi demands Terezin ghetto map Terezin leaders
Terezin Fortress • The small fortress outside the village was converted into the administration offices and guard barracks • The cellblocks were converted to use for prisoners who broke rules • There was also a medical area where experiments were performed Cell Blocks and Crematorium Cell Interior Cell Blocks Medical Wing
Crematorium • Terezin was not built with cremation facilities • However, so many prisoners were dying that a crematorium building was built in September 1942 • Bodies of prisoners were burned and the ashes dumped in the river Crematorium today Gas Oven
Arrival • Jews and others were rounded up throughout German territories and sent to camps like Terezin • Originally, many elderly, children, and artists were sent to Terezin
Prisoner Identification • Unlike prisoners at some concentration camps, prisoners at Terezin were not tattooed for identification • Instead, prisoners had to wear a metal identity badge around their necks • One of the reasons prisoners were not tattooed because of Terzin’s use for propaganda
Living Conditions • In general, conditions at Terezin were better than at other camps • Still, overcrowding, forced labor, starvation, disease, abuse, torture and death were common at Terezin
Cultural Life • Even in these horrible conditions, cultural life survived and thrived • Children were secretly taught by elders • There were several bands and orchestras that were organized among Terezin prisoners • Plays were performed regularly • Artists captured scenes of camp life and smuggled them out or hid them for discovery
Children act in camp performances One of four prisoner orchestras
Terezin as Labor Camp • Prisoners were used as slave labor to produce materials for the Nazi war machine • Work included splitting mica, building boxes and coffins, or spraying German uniforms white for camouflage on the Russian Front Terezin gate with common concentration camp motto: “Liberation through Work”
Terezin as Transit Camp Terezin train station in WWII • Terezin was also used as a transit camp to temporarily hold people before they were sent east to extermination camps • All prisoners arrived at the train station and marched the two miles to the camp • Transit prisoners would only stay until there was room to transport them east to extermination camps and then they would march back to the station Terezin tracks today leading to the east
Terezin as Nazi Propaganda • From the beginning, Terezin was used as propaganda to “prove” that the Nazi’s were treating Jews and others well • Nazis claimed that Terezin was used to “protect” the Jews • Famous Jewish artists and musicians were sent here to show their German fans that they were well treated • In 1943, 456 Dutch Jews arrived at Terezin and soon the Dutch and Swedish Red Cross demanded to see conditions at the camp • To try to show the world that rumors of atrocities against Jews and others were untrue, Nazi leaders allowed a carefully controlled visit to Terezin by the Red Cross on June 23, 1944, a unique event in Nazi concentration camps
Preparing for the Red Cross Visit • The Nazis went to great lengths to prepare Terezin • Thousands of prisoners were sent east to make the camp appear less crowded • The Red Cross route and areas to visit were carefully controlled • Rooms were enlarged and cleaned for the visit, with only 2-3 people per room where the Red Cross members visited • Fake sinks that were not hooked up to water were installed to make conditions appear to be better • The Red Cross reported that the Jews at Terezin were reasonably well treated in their official report
Real Showers and Fake Sinks Actual Terezin showers which were always in short supply as was housing, sanitation, food, and freshwater The Nazis installed these sinks just for the Red Cross visit but they were never connected
Red Cross VisitPreparing Dinner Paintings done by prisoners while at Terezin or reproduced later
Propaganda Movie • The Red Cross visit was considered such a success that they decided to film a propaganda movie at Terezin to counter growing international knowledge of the true nature of German concentration camps • The film was made in the late summer of 1944 Scene from Nazi propaganda film showing happy people and good conditions at Terezin
Liberation of Terezin Survivors of Terezin • Near the end of WWII, as the Soviet Red Army pushed towards Germany from the east, prisoners were sent west adding more prisoners to camps like Terezin • On May 8, 1945 Russian troops liberated the camp • An epidemic of Typhus, spread by prisoners brought from the east broke out in Terezin, killing many prisoners shortly after being freed Russian sign announces Terezin under quarantine for Typhus (a deadly, communicable disease
Terezin by the Numbers • Terezin concentration camp was in operation from November 24, 1940-May 8, 1945 • Terezin had a population of 7000 before the war • It’s population peaked at over 55,000 prisoners during the war and it averaged between 30,000-35,000 • Over 144,000 people from over 25 countries went through the gates of Terezin • Over 33,000 people were murdered or died from conditions at Terezin • Over 88,000 died after being sent east to death camps • Less than 20,000 people survived • Out of 15,000 children under 15, less than 1500 survived
Terezin Today • The fortress at Terezin was used to hold Nazi prisoners for a short time after WWII • Czechoslovakia became a communist country • Terezin returned to its roots as a medium-sized town after the war • Today Terezin is part of the Czech Republic
Terezin Museum and Monument Fortress graveyard today • Terezin remained fairly quiet about its past under communism • A Terezin Museum was finally created in 1989 • Every year it is visited by thousands to remember and learn Terezin Museum Terezin Monument
Why Remember? • We need to remember Terezin and the Holocaust to honor the memory of its victims and to see the consequences of intolerance • Also, we need to understand Terezin and the Holocaust to try to recognize and fight against modern genocides happening today- right now Bodies discovered in a Polish ghetto- 1945 Bodies discovered from the genocide in the Darfur region of Africa- present day
Lisl Bogart: Eyewitness to Terezin • On May 14th 2007, Mrs. Lisl Bogart spoke at Guilford High School • Lisl was a teenager living in Prague, Czechoslovakia when the Nazis sent her and her family to Terezin • Mrs. Bogart survived 3 ½ years at Terezin • Her mother, father, and brother were sent from Terezin to Auschwitz where they were all murdered • Mrs. Bogart speaks around the country as an eyewitness to the history of the Holocaust
