Terezin is a small town located approximately a 45 minute drive north of Prague. When Emperor Josef II built it in the 18th century, he named it after his mother, Queen and Empress Maria Teresa. It was built as a fortress to house soldiers and protect Prague from invasions from the north. It was never used as such however its fortified walls and a garrison area made it a grimly suitable location for a concentration camp. During the Nazi occupation of the Czech part of Czechoslovakia in World War II, the Small Fortress of Terezin was turned into a Gestapo prison and the Great Fort - the town of Terezin - a Jewish ghetto and a transit station to death camps in the east such as Auschwitz in Poland.
Many people died here due to malnutrition, disease and overwork. For others it was an interim station before they were sent on to an extermination camp. Its sad and cruel history is preserved in this memorial today.
We drive out to the town and visit the Museum, where besides being able to read about the history and see the photographs, we will see a film about the activities there. We also visit the crematorium and the actual Small Fortress where the prisoners were held, tortured and often executed. We go into the cells, the hospital, the grounds and more.
Terezin is a small town located approximately a 45 minute drive north of Prague. When Emperor Josef II built it in the 18th century, he named it after his mother, Queen and Empress Maria Teresa. It was built as a fortress to house soldiers and protect Prague from invasions from the north. It was never used as such however its fortified walls and a garrison area made it a grimly suitable location for a concentration camp. During the Nazi occupation of the Czech part of Czechoslovakia in World War II, the Small Fortress of Terezin was turned into a Gestapo prison and the Great Fort - the town of Terezin - a Jewish ghetto and a transit station to death camps in the east such as Auschwitz in Poland.
Many people died here due to malnutrition, disease and overwork. For others it was an interim station before they were sent on to an extermination camp. Its sad and cruel history is preserved in this memorial today.
We drive out to the town and visit the Museum, where besides being able to read about the history and see the photographs, we will see a film about the activities there. We also visit the crematorium and the actual Small Fortress where the prisoners were held, tortured and often executed. We go into the cells, the hospital, the grounds and more.
