Day 3
Terezin – “Death Camp” Without Gas Chambers
We knew today was going to be the first of the emotionally difficult days which are an essential part of this journey. We set off for Terezin Concentration Camp, called Theresienstadt by the Germans (“shtetl” comes from “shtadt”, meaning small town). We met our guide for the day, Luba Poleva. Her mother was Ukrainian but she identifies herself as Czech and Jewish. The ride was just under an hour, north of Prague. On the way we saw a vast expanse of large warehouses, labeled Puma, Levis, etc. They are situated in this place because of the Czech Republic’s central location between Germany, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia. Once off the highway we drove past smaller villages until our destination. The guide noted that the railroad station in the town closest to Terezin, but still several miles away, was the initial drop off point for all those inmates transferred to the camp from all over Europe and from which point they marched on foot to the camp.
Terezin is divided into two: the small fortress, a prison for political prisoners, and the main town, also surrounded by walls and used by the Nazis as a model concentration camp, primarily functioning as a transit camp to other labor camps and ultimately to the death camps. We began our visit in the town, to most people’s surprise, today a functioning town. Some of us found it incomprehensible that people could come to live in this place for the first time or return after being evicted by the Nazis. Luba explained that very inexpensive housing costs were the primary lure. Terezin was originally built by Joseph II the son of Maria Theresa in the eighteenth century as a fortress to protect the country from a Prussian invasion from the north, which never happened. He named it after his mother. The soldiers stationed there developed and inhabited the adjacent town. In 1941 the Nazis removed the 6-7000 residents in order to bring in Jews. Our guide estimated 140,000 people “passed through its gates” (expression stressed by our guide to describe the continuing movement of inmates in and out of Terezin) during the years of WWII. Many died there while others were deported to the killing camps in Poland; Auchwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek and Treblinka.
We made our way on bus through the narrow streets of the town viewing the restaurant where the 3 International Red Cross members dined with the Nazis on their 6 hour infamous visit to the camp during WWII, after which they pronounced Terezin the model camp (what were they thinking!), the boys’ school –turned camp barracks - turned Czech Police Station - turned ghetto museum, the building where many of the young children created art work that survived to show us what the camp was like through their eyes, vestiges of the Nazi transformation of a small town into a ruthless camp, and trace of the no longer existing railroad tracks built mid-war to bring more Jews to Terezin, and faster and make it easier for the soldiers who had to accompany them.
We stopped first at the cemetery and crematorium. Here the crematorium was not used as part of a killing area but rather a way to dispose of dead corpses after they had died and there was no more room in the cemetery. In addition to the Jewish cemetery was a memorial to Russian soldiers who came as liberators and also died because of the rampant typhus epidemic at Terezin at the time of liberation. We heard how The Americans also entered and liberated Terezin according to an agreement between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. Luba related that the Americans showed up on May 8, 1945, but could have arrived earlier on May 5. Somehow Stalin mandated that the Americans wait 3 days to enter the camp, three precious days when many more died and could have been saved. To the rear of the cemetery was a replica of a leafless tree symbolizing a real tree planted by children for Tu B’Shevat as one of many memorials to those thousands who died at Terezin and were buried there. The original tree died in the floods of 2002 and some say it died because it was transferred from its original location outside the camp and never rooted. Nearby was a young sapling, hopefully to replace the original.
On the outside front wall of the crematorium was a stone-sculptured owl, representing the darkness inside. Many owls inhabit the poplar trees that dot the cemetery and crematorium area. Inside the crematorium we viewed the extant remains of a dissecting room, which the Nazis claimed to the International Red Cross was used to discover cause of death. In truth, this was the place where gold teeth were extracted from the deceased. In the entrance room was a large stone brought from Israel by President Chaim Herzog as another memorial. After walking through the building and seeing the black ovens as they existed when in use, we lit memorial candles and recited the Mourners Kaddish.
We proceeded to the Magdeburg Barracks. The first part was a reconstructed room that had about 50 bed spaces but most likely housed many more. The conditions were spartan and intolerable by any humane and hygienic standard. This building contained recently developed exhibits of residents who were musicians, artists, writers, poets and playwrights. It demonstrated the vast amount of artistic talent that was present and lost in this camp alone. One need not stretch the imagination too far to think of the unfulfilled potential in that and the next generations. We saw a copy of the Brunderbar Children’s Opera which has been produced in Rochester. This was one of the many performances that engaged the Jewish population in the camp.
Next stop – Ghetto Museum, newly established in the former boys’ school. We were hardly there long enough to absorb, even peruse quickly the exhibit and information about the camp, we were struck by the crowds – bus upon bus of high schoolers, most from close-by Germany. We did stop to admire the wall of artwork by Helga Weiss, who lived in Terezin at age 12, and survived. We saw pictures of flowers and fields, her early drawings, and then her father told her to draw what she saw in the camp, and she did. Her work then is collected in a book entitled “Draw What You See” – a comprehensive look at camp life through the eyes of a child.
The hidden synagogue – another miracle of the time, discovered in the courtyard of a family who moved back to their residence after the war and used their former barn to store potatoes. Lo and behold they discovered Hebrew writing on the walls behind the potatoes, were advised by a priest not to touch the writing and the rest is history. What exists in this smallish room is an arched ceiling, quotes from Tanach and Talmud, which we often see in a synagogue (e.g. da lifnay mi ata omed - know before whom you stand) along with a wall painting of candlesticks. Here – another poignant and precious moment – a short service highlighted by Elise leading us in singing the 23rd Psalm , El Malei Rakhamim, the memorial prayer and Kaddish once more for the lost generation.
Although a transit camp in name, the lack of hygiene, sickness, hunger and hardship were killing machines in themselves here. Not to be undone completely by the pervasive sadness here of man’s inhumanity to man, we drove to the small fortress, which housed political prisoners – these were any individuals (including Jews) who were identified as committing acts against the Nazi regime and Czechoslovakian government. Barracks piling 400 prisoners into a room for 20 – 30 people, 5 minute showers (cold water only for the Jewish prisoners) once a week for the inmates and later none at all, 2 bathrooms for those 400 prisoners, and no chance of escape (only three made it out alive during the war successfully. Luba reported, they knew to escape on December 26, a holiday when most of the soldiers and guards went home and the remaining ones were drunk. These escapees the only ones to be able to tell the rest of the world what was happening inside – and no one listened). Here in the prison, there was also a “show” for the International Red Cross, specifically a “barbershop room” with rows of sinks against the wall on both sides of the room and mirrors (but no running water) – it’s mind-boggling again how the Red Cross did not see beyond the façade. Poetic justice reigned here – the same small cell in which Jewish prisoners were packed, without light and little air (formerly a stable) was used to house the Nazi commandant of the prison after liberation for 6 months prior to his execution.
Walking around the grounds of the fortress, we stopped at (1) a spot at which 50 inmates were shot and killed a few days before liberation by the Nazis just for fun, (2) gallows used for prisoners at will, and a new and extraordinary statue of suffering inmates, including a mother and child, and a cadaver. The woman and child have a story. As it turns out, there was in this prison an artist, his wife and 3-year old son. The artist was transferred to the camp at Terezin and later died. The wife and child were put in a light-less cell and she went mad. Another artist and wife, friends of the former, had a similar fate. This artist also was taken to the camp, and survived. He somehow maintained all the artwork of his dead friend. He and his wife adopted the young boy as their own. That very young boy collected art work from Terezin and donated all of it to the Terezin exhibit. It is this young boy and his family who is the subject of the large outdoor sculpture.
Our last stop at the large fortress centered on the cemetery for 10,000 – prisoners who died there, many with names and dates etched on their gravestones. A large cross dominated the cemetery with a circle of barbed wire at the top. Jews and non-Jews alike, who stood up and acted out against the fascism and the Nazi regime.
Once back in Prague late in the afternoon, we went our separate ways, mostly to rest, some to one of many afternoon and evening concerts held in churches, only used for that purpose today. The majority of us ended up at Mucha, a restaurant specializing in Czech food and named after the late 19th- early 20th century Czech artist, Alphonse Mucha, who personally drew for Sarah Bernhardt for many years. The charming restaurant, complete with piano player of American show tunes, exhibited Mucha’s exquisite posters of Sarah B. The lighting and atmosphere were “1920’s” and a lovely time was had by all. We walked back, window shopping the ubiquitous Czech crystal and garnet jewelry.
Terezin – “Death Camp” Without Gas Chambers
We knew today was going to be the first of the emotionally difficult days which are an essential part of this journey. We set off for Terezin Concentration Camp, called Theresienstadt by the Germans (“shtetl” comes from “shtadt”, meaning small town). We met our guide for the day, Luba Poleva. Her mother was Ukrainian but she identifies herself as Czech and Jewish. The ride was just under an hour, north of Prague. On the way we saw a vast expanse of large warehouses, labeled Puma, Levis, etc. They are situated in this place because of the Czech Republic’s central location between Germany, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia. Once off the highway we drove past smaller villages until our destination. The guide noted that the railroad station in the town closest to Terezin, but still several miles away, was the initial drop off point for all those inmates transferred to the camp from all over Europe and from which point they marched on foot to the camp.
Terezin is divided into two: the small fortress, a prison for political prisoners, and the main town, also surrounded by walls and used by the Nazis as a model concentration camp, primarily functioning as a transit camp to other labor camps and ultimately to the death camps. We began our visit in the town, to most people’s surprise, today a functioning town. Some of us found it incomprehensible that people could come to live in this place for the first time or return after being evicted by the Nazis. Luba explained that very inexpensive housing costs were the primary lure. Terezin was originally built by Joseph II the son of Maria Theresa in the eighteenth century as a fortress to protect the country from a Prussian invasion from the north, which never happened. He named it after his mother. The soldiers stationed there developed and inhabited the adjacent town. In 1941 the Nazis removed the 6-7000 residents in order to bring in Jews. Our guide estimated 140,000 people “passed through its gates” (expression stressed by our guide to describe the continuing movement of inmates in and out of Terezin) during the years of WWII. Many died there while others were deported to the killing camps in Poland; Auchwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek and Treblinka.
We made our way on bus through the narrow streets of the town viewing the restaurant where the 3 International Red Cross members dined with the Nazis on their 6 hour infamous visit to the camp during WWII, after which they pronounced Terezin the model camp (what were they thinking!), the boys’ school –turned camp barracks - turned Czech Police Station - turned ghetto museum, the building where many of the young children created art work that survived to show us what the camp was like through their eyes, vestiges of the Nazi transformation of a small town into a ruthless camp, and trace of the no longer existing railroad tracks built mid-war to bring more Jews to Terezin, and faster and make it easier for the soldiers who had to accompany them.
We stopped first at the cemetery and crematorium. Here the crematorium was not used as part of a killing area but rather a way to dispose of dead corpses after they had died and there was no more room in the cemetery. In addition to the Jewish cemetery was a memorial to Russian soldiers who came as liberators and also died because of the rampant typhus epidemic at Terezin at the time of liberation. We heard how The Americans also entered and liberated Terezin according to an agreement between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. Luba related that the Americans showed up on May 8, 1945, but could have arrived earlier on May 5. Somehow Stalin mandated that the Americans wait 3 days to enter the camp, three precious days when many more died and could have been saved. To the rear of the cemetery was a replica of a leafless tree symbolizing a real tree planted by children for Tu B’Shevat as one of many memorials to those thousands who died at Terezin and were buried there. The original tree died in the floods of 2002 and some say it died because it was transferred from its original location outside the camp and never rooted. Nearby was a young sapling, hopefully to replace the original.
On the outside front wall of the crematorium was a stone-sculptured owl, representing the darkness inside. Many owls inhabit the poplar trees that dot the cemetery and crematorium area. Inside the crematorium we viewed the extant remains of a dissecting room, which the Nazis claimed to the International Red Cross was used to discover cause of death. In truth, this was the place where gold teeth were extracted from the deceased. In the entrance room was a large stone brought from Israel by President Chaim Herzog as another memorial. After walking through the building and seeing the black ovens as they existed when in use, we lit memorial candles and recited the Mourners Kaddish.
We proceeded to the Magdeburg Barracks. The first part was a reconstructed room that had about 50 bed spaces but most likely housed many more. The conditions were spartan and intolerable by any humane and hygienic standard. This building contained recently developed exhibits of residents who were musicians, artists, writers, poets and playwrights. It demonstrated the vast amount of artistic talent that was present and lost in this camp alone. One need not stretch the imagination too far to think of the unfulfilled potential in that and the next generations. We saw a copy of the Brunderbar Children’s Opera which has been produced in Rochester. This was one of the many performances that engaged the Jewish population in the camp.
Next stop – Ghetto Museum, newly established in the former boys’ school. We were hardly there long enough to absorb, even peruse quickly the exhibit and information about the camp, we were struck by the crowds – bus upon bus of high schoolers, most from close-by Germany. We did stop to admire the wall of artwork by Helga Weiss, who lived in Terezin at age 12, and survived. We saw pictures of flowers and fields, her early drawings, and then her father told her to draw what she saw in the camp, and she did. Her work then is collected in a book entitled “Draw What You See” – a comprehensive look at camp life through the eyes of a child.
The hidden synagogue – another miracle of the time, discovered in the courtyard of a family who moved back to their residence after the war and used their former barn to store potatoes. Lo and behold they discovered Hebrew writing on the walls behind the potatoes, were advised by a priest not to touch the writing and the rest is history. What exists in this smallish room is an arched ceiling, quotes from Tanach and Talmud, which we often see in a synagogue (e.g. da lifnay mi ata omed - know before whom you stand) along with a wall painting of candlesticks. Here – another poignant and precious moment – a short service highlighted by Elise leading us in singing the 23rd Psalm , El Malei Rakhamim, the memorial prayer and Kaddish once more for the lost generation.
Although a transit camp in name, the lack of hygiene, sickness, hunger and hardship were killing machines in themselves here. Not to be undone completely by the pervasive sadness here of man’s inhumanity to man, we drove to the small fortress, which housed political prisoners – these were any individuals (including Jews) who were identified as committing acts against the Nazi regime and Czechoslovakian government. Barracks piling 400 prisoners into a room for 20 – 30 people, 5 minute showers (cold water only for the Jewish prisoners) once a week for the inmates and later none at all, 2 bathrooms for those 400 prisoners, and no chance of escape (only three made it out alive during the war successfully. Luba reported, they knew to escape on December 26, a holiday when most of the soldiers and guards went home and the remaining ones were drunk. These escapees the only ones to be able to tell the rest of the world what was happening inside – and no one listened). Here in the prison, there was also a “show” for the International Red Cross, specifically a “barbershop room” with rows of sinks against the wall on both sides of the room and mirrors (but no running water) – it’s mind-boggling again how the Red Cross did not see beyond the façade. Poetic justice reigned here – the same small cell in which Jewish prisoners were packed, without light and little air (formerly a stable) was used to house the Nazi commandant of the prison after liberation for 6 months prior to his execution.
Walking around the grounds of the fortress, we stopped at (1) a spot at which 50 inmates were shot and killed a few days before liberation by the Nazis just for fun, (2) gallows used for prisoners at will, and a new and extraordinary statue of suffering inmates, including a mother and child, and a cadaver. The woman and child have a story. As it turns out, there was in this prison an artist, his wife and 3-year old son. The artist was transferred to the camp at Terezin and later died. The wife and child were put in a light-less cell and she went mad. Another artist and wife, friends of the former, had a similar fate. This artist also was taken to the camp, and survived. He somehow maintained all the artwork of his dead friend. He and his wife adopted the young boy as their own. That very young boy collected art work from Terezin and donated all of it to the Terezin exhibit. It is this young boy and his family who is the subject of the large outdoor sculpture.
Our last stop at the large fortress centered on the cemetery for 10,000 – prisoners who died there, many with names and dates etched on their gravestones. A large cross dominated the cemetery with a circle of barbed wire at the top. Jews and non-Jews alike, who stood up and acted out against the fascism and the Nazi regime.
Once back in Prague late in the afternoon, we went our separate ways, mostly to rest, some to one of many afternoon and evening concerts held in churches, only used for that purpose today. The majority of us ended up at Mucha, a restaurant specializing in Czech food and named after the late 19th- early 20th century Czech artist, Alphonse Mucha, who personally drew for Sarah Bernhardt for many years. The charming restaurant, complete with piano player of American show tunes, exhibited Mucha’s exquisite posters of Sarah B. The lighting and atmosphere were “1920’s” and a lovely time was had by all. We walked back, window shopping the ubiquitous Czech crystal and garnet jewelry.
Dear Alan (and Jan)
ReplyDeleteThank you for these moving accounts. Wish I was with you.
Marcia B.