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Published: March 6th 2010
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Freezing cold weather did not stop us from making a day trip to Terezin on day 2 of our Prague adventure. I wacked on my wellies and off we went. A bus ride that only took 1 hour got us there safely and the cost was 75 Korun Czech which is probably equivalent to about £1.50 (or not even). Terezin is a former military fortress and garrison town. It may be better known to most as Theresienstadt Concentration Camp. During WWII, the Gestapo used Terezín as a ghetto, concentrating Jews from Czechoslovakia, as well as many from Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Denmark. More than 150,000 Jews were sent there, and although it was not an extermination camp about 33,000 died in the ghetto itself,mostly because of the apalling conditions arising out of extreme population density. Most inhabitants were deported to Auschwitz and other extermination camps immediatley after their stay at Terezin. At the end of the war there were just 17,247 survivors left at the camp.
You can not deny that the place has a sterile, eerie feel about it, quiet and still Catherine and I felt like the only ones in existence. The town is built around a baron
Marketplatz or what I would call a huge football field. The reason I mention this is because Terezin was used to shoot propoganda footage during the war. It was the place they directionally put together a show for the German population, ensuring 'how good' life in the camps was for the jewish people. So this marketplatz was set up as a huge playground and fun fair to record footage. Once complete a fence was placed around it and no-one was allowed to use it from that point on. There are many stories in the museum about the many times the children stood on the outside of the fence looking in. The Red Cross was allowed to visit Terezin, and once again the town was spruced up for the occasion. Certain inmates were dressed up and told to stand at strategic places along the specially designated route through Terezin. Shop windows along that carefully guarded path were filled with goods for the day. From this site the Red Cross deemed that the Jews in Terezin were treated to a satisfactory standard!...... imagine what they would have thought if they saw the truth.
Terezin is also remembered for it's huge child population.
Todays' Museum was the original home for boys and it was in this building that teachers directed the boys to put together a newspaper treking the daily runnings of life in the camp. This was an underworld paper and all people involved in it's publishing took grave chances to print the truth. The Museum has also kept loads of childrens drawings which was used to keep the children busy and their minds off the poor living conditions. It is hard to believe that most of those children never made it out of Auschwitz and that their pictures have out lasted time.
We spent a few hours in the museum and also watched a movie in this huge retro cinema. I had read that it was well worthwhile watching this movie so Catherine and I made our way in and sat in an empty theatre to discover that the movie was very average and very short!
I sat down for a while and watched some interviews of some of the survivors of the camp and their stories are heart renching. Two stories in particular stay in my mind; One gentlemen was a twin and said that his brother and himself were
kept at Terezin instead of being transported because the german government wanted all german women to give birth to twins, hence increasing the 'pure' population. The boys lives were spared because doctors wanted to research their genetic make up and their blood samples kept getting lost in the postal delivery. Blood was taken from them at least once a fortnight and they encountered daily knowledge and physical testing.
The second story was about a women who had arrived at Terezin in the early stages of her pregnancy. She knew that her pregnancy should be kept secret because she would be deemed in poor health and unuseful, therefore she would be sent to one of the extermination camps. At the time that she was almost 9 months pregnant the camp doctor was doing an inspection and 'culling'. She said that he asked people to stand on either side of the room according to their health. She knew she was doomed and hid behind a group of women, only revealing her face. Luckily she was saved and her group were transported to a working camp. Upon arrival at the working camp they quickly discovered her pregnancy and sent her back to Terezin
and back to the doctor. The doctor was puzzled as to how she escaped her death and when she explained to him what she had done he then made her give birth to the baby and told her he wanted to conduct an experiment on how long a baby would survive without drink. She was allowed to look after the baby but at no point was she allowed to nurse it!!!!
I sat speechless for a while.
When we finally stepped back out onto the streets civilization had appeared in the form of a man speaking czech and begging for money. We went for a wander to a few other museums around the marketplatz. They had a display of the cramped conditions in the rooms at camp and original papers and photos from the newspaper in the boys home. We also looked for the crematorium and memorial site but it was covered in 10 inches of white snow. We did get to see the ceremonial hall that they were allowed to use when someone passed away in the camp due to poor living conditions. Can you believe that after cremation took place each persons ashes were placed in a box
and labelled with the promise of a proper burial. But realistically they were all stored in a basement and in the later years the boxes were replaced with paper envelopes. After the war many jews went back to collect their loved ones ashes only to discover that the gestapo had done away with all evidence before they left the camp.
As we walked back to the main square we stopped and rang the doorbell of a large green door. This little man let us in and took us to a room at the back of the courtyard that looked like a shed. Inside, was the remains of a secret prayer room set up by Frantisek Bubak, a jewish leader. It was clear that only a few people could stand in the room at a time, but what distinguished it were the faded but still legible symbolic drawings and Hebrew letters on its walls, transforming it into a secret, and forbidden, house of worship. As in many synagogues, one wall has written in beautiful Hebrew script, the words from the Talmud: “Know before whom you stand.”On another wall, from the Amidah: “May our eyes behold Your return to Zion in compassion.”Finally,
the largest, and most poignant inscription, from the Tachnun prayer: “We beg You, turn back from Your anger and have mercy on the treasured nation that You have chosen.” Underneath those words is the passage from the morning prayers that calls on God to deliver all Jews from distress and captivity, wherever they may be, and bring them “from darkness to light, from subjugation to redemption, now, speedily and soon.”
The contrast between this simple space and the grandeur of the Synagogues of Prague could not have been more stark. Standing in those awesome settings, I was struck by the vastness and splendor around me, testimony to the wealth and pride of a community that somehow managed to overcome persecution over the centuries and build places of worship that rivaled those of greatness.
I must admit that the cold really did get to me that morning and although I was capsulated by the visions I saw and the stories I read I was glad to be back on the bus just in time for a delicious baguette in Prague. I would not say this is a must see for everyone, only for those who are willing to see and hear
the truth and accept human failings.
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anonymous
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This was an amazing blog Rachelle it have moved me to tears as I read it. Your final sentance/statement is inspirational.