How many people survived terezin

The Nazis permitted these representatives to visit Terezin in order to dispel rumors about the extermination camps. Weeks of preparation preceded the visit. The area was cleaned up, and the Nazis deported many Jews to Auschwitz to minimize the appearance of overcrowding in Terezin.

Also deported in these actions were most of the Czechoslovak workers assigned to "Operation Embellishment". The inspection was held on June 23, , when the four officials were hosted by Adolf Eichmann, who was himself joined by numerous officers from Nazi headquarters in Prague and the high command in Berlin.

The Danish Jews whom the Red Cross visited lived in freshly painted rooms, not more than three in a room. The Red Cross representatives were conducted on a tour following a predetermined path. The representatives apparently did not attempt to divert from the tour route on which they were led by the Germans, who posed questions to the Jewish residents along the way. If the representatives asked residents questions directly, they were ignored, in accordance with the Germans' instructions to the residents prior to the tour.

Despite this, the Red Cross apparently formed a positive impression of the town. Prisoners of the Terezin concentration camp outside Prague rehearse Verdi's Requiem for an upcoming performance for the Red Cross inspection in Following the successful use of Terezin as a supposed model internment camp during the Red Cross visit, the Nazis decided to make a propaganda film there.

It was directed by Jewish prisoner Kurt Gerron, an experienced director and actor. Shooting took eleven days, starting September 1, After the film was completed, most of the cast and the director were deported to Auschwitz. Gerron was murdered by gas chamber on October 28, For my eighth birthday, my parents gave me a tiny potato cake with a hint of sugar; for my ninth birthday, an outfit sewn from rags for my doll; and for my tenth birthday, a poem written by my mother.

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Browse A-Z Find articles, photos, maps, films, and more listed alphabetically. For Teachers Recommended resources and topics if you have limited time to teach about the Holocaust. Wise — International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. About This Site. Glossary : Full Glossary. More information about this image. Cite Share Print Tags ghettos Theresienstadt transit camps forced-labor camps propaganda. During its existence, Theresienstadt served three purposes: Theresienstadt served as a transit camp for Czech Jews whom the Germans deported to killing centers, concentration camps, and forced-labor camps in German-occupied Poland, Belorussia, and the Baltic States.

It was a ghetto-labor camp. The SS deported and then incarcerated there certain categories of German, Austrian, and Czech Jews, based on their age, disability as a result of past military service, or domestic celebrity in the arts and other cultural life. To disguise the physical annihilation of the Jews deported from the Greater German Reich, the Nazi regime employed the general fiction, primarily inside Germany, that the deported Jews would be deployed at productive labor in the East.

Since it seemed implausible that elderly Jews could be used for forced labor, the Nazis used Theresienstadt to hide the nature of the deportations.

Theresienstadt served as a holding pen for Jews in the above-mentioned groups. It was expected that that poor conditions there would hasten the deaths of many deportees, until the SS and police could deport the survivors to killing centers in the East. Nazi Deception Theresienstadt served an important propaganda function for the Germans. Deportations from Theresienstadt Beginning in , SS authorities deported Jews from Theresienstadt to other ghettos , concentration camps , and killing centers in Nazi-occupied eastern Europe.

The Nazis established the ghetto on 24 November Following this, an average of 35, people were incarcerated at any given time between and Kurt Gerron was a Jewish film director from Germany. After fleeing from Nazi Germany to France in , he was later captured in Amsterdam and deported to Westerbork in From Westerbork, he was sent to Theresienstadt in February At Theresienstadt, Gerron was forced to plan and direct a propaganda film for the Nazis depicting Theresienstadt in a positive light.

It was filmed in August and September , with many parts of the ghetto beautified to make it appear in a more positive light. After directing the film, Gerron, and many of the prisoners featured in it, were deported to Auschwitz and murdered.

The film was completed in March , but due to its timing and the imminent end of the war, was never fully released or utilised for mass propaganda. This letter was the last letter written by Otto Bendix to his wife, Gertrude Gurschke, shortly before his deportation.

Give my regards to my children if fate should decide against us. But again, I go full of faith in a good outcome. Love, as always since I have known you. He died in the ghetto just three months later on 8 January , at the age of The Nazis invaded and annexed what remained of Czechoslovakia in March As part of the Theresienstadt Ghetto had served as a prison previously, the Gestapo quickly re-established their own prison in the small fortress on 10 June On 10 October Heydrich identified Theresienstadt as the desired Jewish settlement for German, Austrian and Czech Jews over the age of 65, First World War veterans , or well-known cultural or political figures.

Theresienstadt was intended to serve as both a holding site for Jews on their way to extermination camps in the east or for Jews of cultural or political fame until their eventual deportation or death.

Later, Theresienstadt was also an important propaganda tool to disguise the nature of the Nazis treatment of elderly or prominent Jews. It was used to explain the deportation of elderly Jews from Germany, since it was implausible to suggest that they were being deported to complete forced labour due to their frail state and age. The establishment and jurisdiction of the ghetto was assigned to the Gestapo, Adolf Eichmann and the Prague Office for Jewish Emigration.

Administration inside the ghetto was the responsibility of the elected Theresienstadt Jewish Council, led by chairman Jacob Edelstein. On 24 November , the first Jewish prisoners arrived in Theresienstadt. These prisoners were forced to convert the former military garrison into a ghetto.

More prisoners soon arrived. Just two months later, on 9 January , the first transport of Czech Jews left Theresienstadt for other ghettos in the east. By the time the ghetto was liberated in May , almost 90, Jews had been deported from Theresienstadt. This savings book, issued by the self-administered Jewish bank of Theresienstadt, belonged to Max Hirschfeld.

The book was used to record and receive pay for labour carried out in the ghetto. This pay was credited to a fake bank account and no money was received. This letter also belonged to Max Hirschfeld, and, following liberation from the ghetto, requested refunds for the savings accrued by all surviving Theresienstadt inmates to compensate them for their work and their experience from the British Military Governor, Bielefeld.

Conditions for prisoners held inside Theresienstadt were very poor. Of the , prisoners who were imprisoned there during its existence, 33, perished at the ghetto due to deprivation , starvation, and disease. The ghetto was overcrowded, with between 40,, people crammed into the living quarters. Initially, the first Jews to arrive at Theresienstadt were housed in the converted barracks, sleeping in triple decker wooden bunk beds, with several people sharing each bunk.

However, overcrowding soon meant that some were also forced to sleep in the attics, cellars, and hallways.