The One In Terezin

*** The following entry contains graphic depictations and accounts of Terezin- a fortress originally used to protect this area from the Prussians, and later inhabitated by the Germans and used a a Nazi Concentration Camp***

4-11-2009

While trying to make the most of our time here in Prague we have been researching places of interest around The Czech Republic and came across Terezin.
 A little background of terezin:
   Terezin is comprised of 2 "fortresses" The Small Fortress and the Big Fortress. Most of the history, centers around the Small Fortress- part of Terezin's fortification system built between 1780-1790 and served as a prison and penitentiary for army and political prisoners already at the time of Habsburg monarchy. The most tragic chapter in it's history came during the occupation of the Czech lands by Nazi Germany in 1939, The Gestapo Police Prison was established in Terezin as a key link in the repressive system of the Nazi occupation. Terezin served as the most populated and popular transport location for Prisoners and Jews, before they were sent further East and perished.
So today we ventured to Terezin about 80 Km north of Prague, almost on the German border. My friends Sarah, Shannon, Andy and my flatate Kelly took the bus there and arrived around 11AM.  We got off the bus and started walking toward the Small Fortress, as you approach the Small Fortress there is The National Graveyard with 601 graves, a grave for everybody that they recovered from a mass grave and had a burial service for after Terezin was liberated.
     We signed up for an English tour, and waited in a small exhibit for our tourguide, Rosa. Rosa led us to the Small Fortress and we went to the left and entered the registration area where prisoners were registered, handed over all of their possessions-including their clothes, received a blanket, bowl and spoon and were sent to a yard where they were assigned a block/room. The First yard consists of BLOCK A and BLOCK B. They were made up of 17 mass cells, holding 100+ people each and solitary cells, where the prisoners were supposed to be by themselves but when they got overcrowded they often shared it with up to 60 other people. However some people who were in there by themselves often went mad and became blind due to lack of light and outside contact. Others who were crammed into cells with ventialtion holes no larger than a soda can often suffocatated to death and could have been left in those cells, deceased, for days.
    In BLOCK A and BLOCK B, there was also a "sick room." This room was used to treat prisoners who were critically ill. Often other prisoners who were doctors were sentenced to work there and try to help other dying prisoners. They performed appendectimies, amputations, and minor surgeries with minimal tools and anthestics. The room consisted of about 7 beds, and some floor space. In 1944 a Hospital Ward was established in the Womens Ward as the outbreak of Typhoid Fever. Otherwise healthy women were often exposed and suffered from the Typhoid outbreak as a result of this relcation of the Hospital Ward.
   We also saw the "Baber Shop." This was created to show the Delegation commitee (from Denamrk and Switzerland) how "good" the hygiene conditions were in Terezin- however this room - lined in sinks, and mirrors and had 2 good condition toilets- was never used my prisoners, and was never intended for thier use. It was another Propoganda move by the Germans to get the Jews to the Jewish ghetto in the Larger Fortress, or basically a fake room incase the Delegation - The Red Cross came to investigate, that is what they would show them. *more about the Propoganda later....*
   From these yards we continued onto the Connection Corridor. Before we entered the Corridors we passed the Mortruary, where some prisoners were stoned to death. These lead through all 20,000 +meters that surround the fortress, today they have 500 meters for guests to walk through. These corridors are about 6 feet tall and very narrow. They were used to defend the fortress from the Prussians- in the walls are slanted rifle holes which soldiers could shoot through and long hallways used for storing ammunition.
   On the other side of the connecting corridor is the  Execution grounds. These were originally used as target practice for soldiers, then later as an execution site for prisoners. On the far side there is also a small Gallows, where prisoners who had attempted to escape or fought back were publically hung as an example to others. We also passed through the"Death Gate"  numbered #22...where prisoners were led to the execution grounds.
   In the center of the Small Fortress is a Canteen, a Cinema,  a Pool and the Wardens barracks. The families of the Commanders lived here on base. Directly behind this is the Fourth Yard ( the second yard is used as a working grounds for prisoners, the third used as a womens yard)  that the prionsers  built in 1943 to accomodate more prisoners in the extremely overpopulated Terezin. In the fourth yard the cells held 400-600 prisoners each. By 1945 the yard housed over 3,000 prisoners. At the end of the fourth yard there is a raised wall. Here 3 prisoners tried to escape and two made it over the wall, while one was shot and couldnt escape. The one that was shot was publically executed along with 2 randomly selected men and one woman as an example. The 2 who had made it over the wall were found, brought back and publically stoned .
 In 1947 the Czechoslovak Government decided to establish the Terezin Memorial, to commemorat those who fought, died, and survived for freedom, democracy, and human rights.

     After we lef the small fortress we passed by The National Cemetary on our way to the Larger Fortress. Here it has the same corridors surrounding the fortress but resembles more of a town, beautiful parks, a river and many statues. However, all of this was part of the propoganda of Terezin to make it look like a "self-administered Jewish Settlement territory" It was meant to be a smoke-screen to the international public and cover up the genuine tragic fate of the Terezin Inmates and the true face of the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question."Those coming here thought they were going to a pleasant place , free of outside pressures and could live peacefully- they were even shown a movie to depict how nice life was in Terezin. Here is where we get back to the Propoganda part from earlier....
   To make this movie they killed approximatelt 2,000 "sickly" looking innmates so they would not appear in the video. Then they staged a happy video, where peopel are eating a lot of bread (not the 5 kg of bread they were actually rationed, which quicly diminshed to 7 kg for 4 days..)  Playing sports (not working to the brink of exhaustion and dehydration) and looking happy, kids cheering (not locked in school rooms for "re-education" purposes.) When these Jews arrived they had to turn over all of their possesion in exchange for food and shelter in Terezin for life.... not knowing how short most of their lives would be.
   In the end some 140,000 men, women and children passed through the gates of Terezin, and in the last days of the war more than 15,00 more did as well. Less than 4,000 innmates survived the camp of the more than 87,000 who came to Terezin then were shipped out to Extermination camps (mostly to Auschwitz). sadly (and this part was really amazing, and so sad for me) the children were also victims in all of this. Many were exterminated before the age of 13. They left behind drawings they would make in teh barracks depicting life in Terezin, life before Terezin, their pets, families, fair tales they remembered, scenes from their hometown etc. They have a spacial museum dedicated to the children who perished in Terezin. While I was there I also bought post cards that have replica drawings done by the children of Terezin.
     After the tour of the small fortress- We had lunch at a pizzeria to kind of collect our thougths, and reflect a little bit on what we had seen all morning, and continued on our journey through the larger fortress. We saw the Jewish Cemetaty and the Cerematorium. And also more corridors that had artifacts from Terezin such as carriages they used to pull bodies in, coffins- where they had to tie the bodys to the bottom of the coffin, because often times they had to reuse the tops to these, and also identification tags that they put on the dead bodies.
   I guess the two things that shocked me the most -and these are in no particular order as I cant really grasp either concept, is that
A. Everything we saw today, the barracks, bunk, toilets, showers,coffins, carriages,doctors tools, uniforms, courtyards, gallows, etc. were real things, not "authentic-replicas" from history, but these items are only 60-70 some years old, - and the fact that you can actually touch the bed poeple died and walk by the wall peopel were exectuted in front of in is really disturbing.
B. The records they kept on prisoners- men, women and children, is amzing, They were all registered when they entered Terezin, and their record is also marked if/when they were sick, when they died- and how they died. "Heart troubles" were written as the cause for a lot of prisoners who were probably beaten or worked to death.They also recorded which prisoners were sent to which extermination camp. They recorded medicine administered, surgeries performed ect. And on some prisoners records it was recorded if they had "escaped"  The idea that they would go through all of that to reserve- for lack of better words- a persons identity, who was virtually a number, a work slave and a body for target practice. They even wrote to the families and informed them if they had persihed while at Terezin, which I can't decide if it is better to know or not know in the case of these families. Now the records dropped off a little bit once the camp was overun by Nazi's and became overpopulated...but still. All of that to appease the outsiders and give the illusion of abiding by all the rules....

Anyway.... I am really glad I had the oppurtunity to explore Terezin, it was a fascinating town with an amazing history- sad and depressing as it may be. I have always wanted to learn more about hsitory- and still kick myself for not paying attention in Mrs. Dahme's 5th grade history class....History is amazing and hopefully we learn and grow from it, and pray that a tradegy like this never happens again.

You should be able to view my photos from Terezin by following this link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2995655&id=9304278&l=2d6a6633b2