Friday June 08 2007 - Part 2

Terezin (Theresienstadt)

Click on the pictures below for a larger view

After some skillful driving by Adriana and 'seat-of-his-pants' navigating' by Karel, we made to Terezin. The following description is from Wikipedia:

During WWII, the Gestapo used Terezín, better known by the German name Theresienstadt, as a ghetto, concentrating Jews from Czechoslovakia, as well as many from Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Denmark. Though it was not an extermination camp, of the over 150,000 Jews who arrived there, about 33,000 died in the ghetto itself, mostly because of the appalling conditions arising out of extreme population density. About 88,000 inhabitants were deported to Auschwitz and other extermination camps [2][3] At the end of the war there were 17,247 survivors. Theresienstadt was the home of Hana Brady and her brother George Brady from 1942-1944.
Part of the fortification (Small Fortress) served as the largest Gestapo prison in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, separated from the ghetto. Around 90,000 people went through it, and 2,600 of those died there.
It was liberated on May 9th, 1945 by the Soviet Army.

Entrance:

The camp administrative offices:

Rifle racks:

Hallmark of the Nazi camps:

The camp was expecting a visit from Red Cross officials to make sure they were adhering the the Geneva Convention provisions, so the Nazi's mocked up elaborate facilities to make it appear that they were providing suitable medical care and sanitary conditions. Beautiful washrooms and showers were constructed for the visit, but they were never used. The water lines weren't even hooked up.......

Back to the reality of the camp:

Raw sewage

Gallows

Swimming Pool for SS officers

Movie Theatre for the SS men

It was at this point that a guide finally caught up with me to let me know that picture taken on the grounds was strictly prohibited. How I walked past the twenty odd signs stating that fact was beyond me....It was time to leave anyway, as Adriana had to get back to Prague for an appointment with Karels mother. I was glad that I had the opportunity to see this place. In Canada it's not easy to remember just how evil people can be, as the war never made it to our shores and most of the veterans that saw this have passed away.

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