Terezin Concentration Camp

The fortress town of Terezin was constructed in the 18th century by the Austrian Empire to house a garrison of around 11,000 soldiers and all of the supporting infrastructure this entails. The fortress is approximately 2km by 2km in size. It was used as a POW camp in WW1 and this was again its use in WW2

Terezín, better known by the German name Theresienstadt, became a concentration camp. The majority of the people sent were scholars, professionals, artists and musicians (basically anyone with the intelligence or inclination to oppose the regime). Inmates were encouraged to lead creative lives and to take time to adjust to their new home. Within the camp were parks, grassy areas and flower beds a concert hall and shops, the camp even had its own currency.

The gestapo invited the International Red Cross to inspect the camp and to see that the inmates were leading full, productive lives. The camp was internationally approved and the Nazis had succeeded in executing the PR coup of the war. Once the inspectors had left the true function of the camp could be resumed.

Around 140,000 people were sent to Terezin. Terezin was used as a holding pen for deportation to Auschwitz in Poland to the north. Terezin lacked the mass murder capabilities of the newly constructed extermination camp there. Approximately 80-90 thousand people were sent to Auschwitz, somewhere in the region of 30,000 died in Terezin itself and there are reportedly around 20,000 survivors when the camp was liberated by the Russian army.

 

Please read the history of Terezin from the official website