Transcript The Holocaust: Terezin Concentration Camp

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
• 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, wellknown 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
Terezin ghetto map
Terezin leaders
• 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 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
One of four prisoner orchestras
Children act in camp performances
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 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 train station in WWII
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 Visit
Preparing
Dinner
Paintings done by prisoners while at Terezin or reproduced later
Propaganda Movie
Scene from Nazi propaganda film showing
happy people and good conditions at Terezin
• 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
Liberation 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
Survivors of Terezin
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?
Bodies discovered in a
Polish ghetto- 1945
Bodies discovered from
the genocide in the
Darfur region of Africapresent day
• 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
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
Yael fisher
CHS