Concentration camp Theresienstadt

Concentration camp Theresienstadt was a concentration camp set up by the Gestapo in the fortress and garrison city Terezín (German name Theresienstadt), located in what is now the Czech Republic).

People

Theresienstadt was originally planned to house privileged Jews from Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Austria. It was home to many elderly people and was known for its rich cultural life. Some prominent artists from Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Germany were either born in Theresienstadt or found their death there. There were artists, writers, scientists and jurists, diplomats, musicians, and scholars.

Related Topics:
Germany - Austria

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The community in Theresienstadt ensured that all the children that passed through continued with their education. Daily classes and sports activities were held and the magazine Vedem was edited there. This affected some 15,000 children, of whom only about 1,100 survived to the end of the war. Other estimates place the number of the surviving children as low as 150.

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The conditions in Theresienstadt were extremely hard. In a space previously inhabited by 7,000 Czechs, now over 50,000 Jews were gathered. Food was scarce and in 1942 almost 16,000 people died, including Esther Adolphine (a sibling of Sigmund Freud) who died on September 29, 1942; Friedrich Münzer (a German classicist), who died on October 20, 1942; and two siblings of American politician John Kerry's grandmother.

Related Topics:
Sigmund Freud - September 29 - 1942 - Friedrich Münzer - October 20 - John Kerry

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Some 500 Jews from Denmark were sent to Theresienstadt in 1943. These were Jews who had not escaped to Sweden before the arrival of the Nazis. The arrival of the Danes is of great significance as the Danes insisted on the Red Cross having access to the ghetto. This was a rare move, given that most European governments did not insist on their fellow Jewish citizens being treated according to some fundamental principles.

Related Topics:
Denmark - 1943 - Sweden

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