Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE GHETTO
InOctober1941,ReinhardHeydrichandtheNazihighcommanddecidedtoturnthewhole
of Terezín into a
Jewish ghetto
. It was an obvious choice: fully fortified, close to the
main Prague-Dresden railway line, and with an SS prison already established in the Malá
pevnost (Small Fortress) nearby. The original inhabitants of the town - fewer than 3500
people - were moved out, and transports began arriving at Terezín from many parts of
central Europe. Within a year, nearly 60,000 Jews were interned here in appallingly over-
crowded conditions; the monthly death rate rose to 4000. In October 1942, the first trans-
port left for
Auschwitz
. By the end of the war, 140,000 Jews had passed through Terezín;
fewer than 17,500 remained when the ghetto was finally liberated on May 8, 1945. Most
of those in the camp when the Red Army arrived had been brought to Terezín on forced
marchesfromotherconcentrationcamps.Evenaftertheliberation,typhuskilledmanywho
had survived this far.
One of the perverse ironies of Terezín is that it was used by the Nazis as a cover for the
real purpose of the
Endlösung
, or “final solution”, devised at the Wannsee conference in
January 1942 (at which Heydrich was present). The ghetto was made to appear self-gov-
erning, with its own council or
Judenrat
, its own bank printing (worthless) ghetto money,
itsownshopssellinggoodsconfiscatedfromtheinterneesonarrivalandevenacaféonthe
mainsquare.Forawhile,aspecial“Terezínfamilycamp”wasevensetupinAuschwitz,to
continue the deception. The deportees were kept in mixed barracks, allowed to wear civil-
ian clothes and - the main purpose of the whole thing - to send letters back to their loved
ones in Terezín telling them they were OK. After six months' “quarantine”, they were sent
to the gas chambers.
Although Terezín was being used by the Nazis as cynical propaganda, the ghetto popu-
lation turned their
unprecedented freedom
to their own advantage. Since the entire pop-
ulation of the Protectorate (and Jews from many other parts of Europe) passed through
Terezín, the ghetto had an enormous number of outstanding Jewish artists, musicians,
scholarsandwriters(manyofwhomsubsequentlyperishedinthecamps).Thus,inaddition
to the officially sponsored activities, countless clandestine cultural events were organized
in the cellars and attics of the barracks: teachers gave lessons to children, puppet theatre
productions were staged and literary evenings were held.
Towards the end of 1943, the so-called
Verschönerung
, or “
beautification
”, of the ghetto
was implemented, in preparation for the arrival of the International Red Cross inspectors.
Streets were given names instead of numbers, and the whole place was decked out as if
it were a spa town. When the
International Red Cross
asked to inspect one of the Nazi
camps, delegates were brought here and treated to a week of Jewish cultural events. A cir-
cus tent was set up in the main square; a children's pavilion erected in the park; numerous
