Terezin

(We apologize for the formatting of this blog. Some things seem highlighted or with a white background. We tried to fix it, but we can't figure it out!) 

It was another rainy day, but we've been making the best of it! The rain would come and go, so it wasn't awful. Thankfully, we were on a bus tour and able to stay out of the elements. Sunday's tour was to a concentration camp/ghetto outside of Prague, in Terezin, Czech Republic. Getting to Prague from Krakow is a funny/interesting story. Let's just say it involved missing our train, lots of transportation changes, and getting in 4 hours later than originally planned. Crazy! On the plus side, we are now experts on using Uber. 

Finally arriving at our apartment, we immediately went to bed to prepare for the next day. In order to get to Terezin, we had to get to the Municipal Building in Prague where our tour bus awaited to take us on the hour long journey. We were able to navigate the metro system to get there. Yeah us! While we waited for the bus, we took advantage of our time and walked around the city square. Most notable was the beautiful architecture. Krakow was gorgeous, and we felt like Prague had a lot to live up to. But it is a beautiful city, old, with lots of character. We wish we had more time there, but we only had one full day before having to catch a plane to our next stop. Look at us - world travelers! 

Hitler's "Gift" to the Jews


Our first impression of Terezin was that it was well constructed and visually appealing. The "large fortress" as it was called, contained large, well-crafted 3-story barracks, with spacious, open courtyards between them. Also, there was a town square with a church, a bank, and a coffee shop - it was really very quaint!! So it was really difficult for us to imagine how somewhere so beautiful could be the place of such horror. 

Picture of the "town" from the street view. Interesting fact...people actually live here now. This is now a residential area. 

Notice the church at the end.

Where the officers lived.

Terezin was different from any other concentration camp. This site was actually built many years before WWII, from 1780-1790. It was built as a fort and barracks to house 7,000 soldiers. Essentially, it was to be a military base but it was never used for that purpose. Then during WWI, it was used as a prison for political prisoners of war. But during WWII Hitler took it over to use as a ghetto/concentration camp. Since it had more of a small town feel versus a ghetto/concentration camp feel, Hitler used that to his advantage to continue his disgusting agenda. He actually convinced Jews that Terezin was his gift to them. It turned our stomachs when we learned that some wealthy Jews actually paid to be sent there instead of another camp.

Large Fortress

Why is Terezin so important? Well, take into consideration how it was built and set up to look. It was the ultimate use of propaganda by the Nazis! Its "beauty" allowed it to be used as a model concentration camp to trick the world. In late 1943, when rumors began about the deplorable conditions of Jews in these camps, as well as the use of gas chambers for mass killings, the Red Cross demanded a visit. Of course, the Nazis planned to bring them to Terezin. Why not? It was set up like a town and, more importantly, because it had no gas chambers on the premises. The Nazis had 6 months to prepare for their visit - and prepare they did! 

There was not much aesthetic work to be done in the large fortress because it looked like a nice place to live, so the Nazis made some other changes. They created a football team, complete with uniforms. They planted gardens, they got the coffee shop up and running and filled it with baked goods, and they even printed Terezin currency. The level of thought that went into their trickery amazed us! 

Another view of the "town". Can you begin to understand why Terezin was propaganda at its best?

While visiting the large fortress, a room in the barracks showed a replica of the sleeping quarters of women. It was set up to look like it did during the war, but the actual beds were reconstructed. All the clothes, suitcases, and other personal belongings that you see are all original to the prisoners and left behind. 

It was a mouth dropping moment because it just looked so normal and set up like a crowded dormitory, yet 60-100 women shared this space. Why were people forced to live like this? No one ever had an answer. It doesn't matter from which direction you ask why. There is no answer. At least no answer that justifies the horror. 

As we moved through the tour, there was another section of the building that was turned into a gallery. This showcased art that prisoners created. Such talent! Prisoners painted and sketched other prisoners, daily life there, atrocities witnessed, and even wrote poems and short stories. We were so choked up walking through room upon room of faces with names. It was heart-wrenching because there were many portraits titled, "Portrait of a Woman", or "Portrait of a Boy". No one knew who they were to put a name to them. But they were somebody and they were important to someone. How many people didn't have a name? How many families were wiped out? 

These are original works of art actually created by the hands of prisoners at Terezin. These were pieces that someone created during their time there, probably to escape their lives for however long they could. Terezin was filled with talented people. Reading about individuals who were imprisoned here made the loss of so many individuals more real, more personal. Not only did we see faces with names, and nameless faceless, but we read about authors, artists, musicians, and writers who would never again share their talents with the world - it was truly heartbreaking. 

The art of Petr Ginz, who was a young Jewish boy (killed in Auschwitz in 1944) is showcased above. He loved everything associated with space! He was special because one of his pieces was carried into space by the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, on board the Columbia Space Shuttle. Sadly, the space shuttle did not make it home, and neither did the original art piece titled "Moon Landscape". 

Music and theater were set up to entertain the Nazi's. Can you imagine that? Degraded and imprisoned against your will, but wait, perform for us too?! They even performed a children's opera "Brundibar" which was written by a composer who was imprisoned here. We were sickened to learn that of the 55 performances of "Brundibar", no child ever performed more than once because they were quickly transported to Auschwitz or other camps. Terezin was like a transition camp - prisoners would come and go frequently. When they left Terezin, who knows what happened to them? 

In order to get ready for the Red Cross, the Nazis had to make the barracks look less crowded and more like a place someone would want to live. The Nazis increased their deportations to Auschwitz, and in the month before the visit, they shipped about 7,500 of the weakest and unhealthiest prisoners to Auschwitz. 

There were several reasons Terezin was chosen as a ghetto/concentration camp. We have already mentioned that it was aesthetically pleasing. But as we move to the "small fortress", we learned that it was considered invisible, and difficult to escape because of the giant walls and surrounding moats.

View of high walls/moat going into the small fortress.

Small Fortress

From the "large fortress", we took a short bus ride to the "small fortress". When we walked in we immediately felt like we were in an old Mexican town. The buildings had that adobe feel to them with low walls, neutral colors, and dirt roads. It looked like a scene from an old western movie. 

This part of the fortress was divided into 5 courtyards. The first courtyard held the administration buildings where the prisoners were registered, received their uniforms, and also where the offices were located. It wasn't a huge area because the doors were right next to each other. The remainder of the camp housed the 4 courtyards, which were for prisoners. 

Notice the words above the entrance. Nazis were fond of this saying, as it was displayed above most concentration camp entrances. It means,"work sets you free". 

Administrative office - where prisoners were "registered",

More offices

The office where uniforms were given out. 

We continued our tour through the remaining 4 courtyards and were led to a barrack where men stayed. There we saw wooden bunks that were 3 levels high. We were told that they used to have a thin mattress but due to the outbreak of lice and the difficult time they had getting rid of the bugs, prisoners chose to sleep on the wooden planks. To our surprise, the room had a table with benches, a row of cubbies for clothes, one sink and one toilet (with a door!). By comparison, this camp did not seem too bad. Everything you see is original to the time. Nothing has been reconstructed.

Bunks

Cubbies for items

Sink in the barrack.

The toilet is behind this door. Imagine that - some privacy!

Even though these conditions were better than other concentration camps (and I say that lightly), more preparation was still needed for the small fortress. 

Prisoners who committed a "crime" were kept at the small fortress, and their living conditions were, let's just say, lacking. So the Nazis built a shaving room with mirrors and sinks. What struck us when we entered this room was how attractive and untouched it looked. Our guide told us this room was in such impeccable shape because it was built to show the Red Cross but was never once used by the prisoners!

Continuing through the small fortress, we entered a large room that was used for punishment. Up to 77 men were held in this room for various offenses. It was standing room only, no bathroom, and there was one small hole for ventilation. 

The small rectangle next to the door was the only ventilation. 

If you look closely at this close-up picture of the ventilation, you can see that it's not even the whole rectangle, but it funnels down to the size of a deck of cards. 

Our guide then led us to other small isolation rooms where up to 60 prisoners were held. The rooms were very cold and again had very little ventilation. There were no sinks or toilets. 

Doors to the isolation cells.

 

An entire hallway of isolation cells.

For some unknown reason, real showers were allowed at this camp, but they were not private. Showers were given in a large room with several shower heads.

Real showers






Everything about Terezin was disturbing. Our hearts were heavy and our souls were screaming. Just when we thought we'd seen it all, we were led to the execution courtyard. This was a former shooting range, where 250-300 prisoners in total were shot to death. The largest group killed here at once was 52 prisoners. Standing in this spot and knowing the horror that occurred was very emotional and sent chills down our spines. Soldiers practiced here as well, and would lay on their stomachs on the cross-shaped structure on the ground.
Close up of the shooting wall where prisoners were executed. 

The cross-shaped concrete slab was where soldiers would lay and practice shooting. 

Also in this area was a gallow where prisoners were hung. Although it was only used once for 2 prisoners who tried to escape, it was left there as a warning and to send a message to anyone who thought about escaping. 

As we left this area our guide told us to turn around. Here he pointed out the "gate of death". This led to the execution courtyard we had just left. He said the prisoners referred to it this way because when you went through the gates, you didn't come back. 

Red Cross Visit

As important as this visit was, the blog entry is short, in keeping with the spirit of the visit. In June 1944, the day finally came that the Nazis had spent so much time preparing for. The Red Cross visited Terezin for ONLY 5 1/2 hours. Our guide told us the visit began with a 30-minute tour by car. The Red Cross officials took a two-hour lunch and then enjoyed a concert put on by the prisoners. They took a final 30 min tour of the camp and decided they had seen enough. The Red Cross officials signed a document stating that the conditions in ALL concentration camps were fine and they contain no gas chambers. They made a blanket statement about ALL concentration camps based on what they saw in Terezin. Correction - based on what the Nazis wanted them to see. We were horrified that a group like the Red Cross could be fooled by Nazi propaganda and that they took such little care of investigating. They never deviated from the scheduled tour set up by the Nazis and never questioned it! How infuriating!! It makes us wonder if they really wanted to know the truth. Or maybe they thought there was no way anyone would treat another human being so inhumanely so they believed everything they saw. 

Jewish/Christian Cemetery
The next stop of our tour was located in between the large and small fortress. A large cemetery that held 10,000 Jewish and Christian prisoners. Sadly, only 1,133 could be identified. 





Star of David





Star of David with Christian cross





Grave marker of an unknown prisoner.


Christian cross





So many unknown prisoners among a small amount of known.

Crematorium

The last part of the bus tour was to the crematorium, which was another short bus ride. As we crossed the threshold, the air felt thick. We had that feeling of hesitation before we walked into the room with the ovens, like we knew what awaited us but we didn't want to face the emotions we knew were coming. This crematorium was set up because they were running out of space to bury the dead. It was also set up as a final insult to the Jewish community, because their religion dictates that a body is to be buried intact and as is, not cremated. There were 4 ovens that could burn up to 8 people in about an hour. Here, we were able to light a candle and place it on a cremation oven to show respect to the dead. It was soothing to us to be able to do this, knowing that small gestures go a long way. 

Outside of the crematorium. Next to it is an active cemetary.

Walking up the stairs, we looked down and saw the heart below. Then we noticed the smiley face on the cement. We had to snap this picture because we saw it a minute after we lit the candle. We like to think it was a sign of thank you and peace. 

Final Thoughts

Visiting Terezin was a very different experience for us than visiting Auschwitz. Since it is a lesser known camp, there are fewer pictures online so we really had no preconceived notions of what we would see. But more importantly, Terezin had a more personal element to it that we felt was missing from Auschwitz. Please don't misunderstand. Visiting Auschwitz was an incredibly emotional experience. But the tour was scripted and a bit sterile. We're not ashamed to admit that we were actually angry at all the people there! It was packed full of people, and we felt we missed out on a more personal experience. Which is why in our Auschwitz post, we said we deviated from the tour. Terezin, in contrast, was less crowded, more personal, and our tour guy actually said, "Don't worry if you're lagging behind, you should take all the time you need in each section, I will wait for everyone." This was the personal touch we were looking for and it allowed us to not feel rushed, and to be a little selfish in taking the time we needed.