Terezin

When I went on the field trip to Terezin I really didn’t know what to expect. I knew it was the concentration camp or ghetto that was used as a propaganda tool for when the Red Cross visited and was referred to as “The city Hitler gave the Jews.” It amazed me that a place that had such beauty saw so much hatred and death.

The first part of the tour was the more administrative side of the ghetto, where the prisoners were registered and got their uniforms. We saw where the slept and were told the number of people that were forced to reside in a single room. There were about 40 people in our tour group and we took up a decent amount of room in a single barrack, our guide told us to imagine another hundred people or so and that would be the normal living conditions here.

Something that really stuck with me from this visit was that the walls weren’t complete all the way around. There were gaps here and there that a person from the inside could see out to the country side and the town a short ways away. The people who were imprisoned here had lost their freedom but could still see out into the world that was passing them by every day as they were treated horribly, less than the dirt under the boots of their jailors and yet no one came to their aid. If I had been in that situation I don’t know if the sight of a freedom that I could see but never reach would have broken me or made me more determined to live.

Another thing about this camp was that the guards and their families lived on site. They had comfy apartments, a swimming pool and even a cinema where they could go and watch movies. All of this luxury and comfort while a stone’s throw away there were people dying of disease and starvation. It seems impossible to me that someone could be ok with that.

This was the cemetery that greeted us on our way into the camp. Few had names, some had dates but the majority only had numbers to distinguish one from another. Something that I found interesting was that a lot of the dates on these stones were after the war was over and the camp was liberated. I later found out that the camp was so full of disease they could not be let out into the general public and many died in the camp from their illness even after they were proclaimed free. 

Me standing under the entrance to the camp.

Work Makes You Free

One of the barracks inside the camp

A small wash area.

This was actually the cell where the student that shot the heir to the Holy Roman Empire and his wife and pretty much started the first world war was held.

He spent two years in this cell and two more in the camp hospital before he died.

The shower room.

They would pack two or three barracks worth of people in here to shower. since there could be upwards of a hundred people in a single barrack this didn't work to well.

Now this little gem is the barbershop that was built for propaganda purposes and was never actually  used. Great right??

One of the larger barracks

This statue for some reason kept catching my eye. Its disturbing and in your face but for some reason it spoke to me so I had to take a picture and post it.

In the actual town of Terezin, just a short ways from the camp, we went to two museums. One in memory of the children that were imprisoned there and the other was a memorial as to what life was like in the camp before things got ugly and intense.

The children’s museum was hard. What really got me were these columns that had excerpts from their journals about their lives in the camp and the things they noticed or enjoyed. I really shouldn’t have read all of them but I did and what stuck with me the most was the small things they took joy in. Like hearing one of the musicians playing classical music on the piano or finally getting something in the mail even though the guards went through it already. It made me realize how amazing my childhood was and that I need to stop and appreciate it more.

The second museum depicted what life was like in the camps before it got bad. They had plays and musicals, music concerts and art classes, the young people even went to school. This place showed us what the ghetto barracks would have looked like. It had a room for artwork, theater and even music. The music room spoke to me the loudest of anywhere we had been so far. There were a few pieces of sheet music (music notes written on a staff) some with words some without. Music has always been a major part of my life and when I saw those pieces of paper with little dots and scribbles something in my heart just broke. Out of everything these people had been through and were forced to endure they still still found a way to create something beautiful. I have studies music for more years than I can count and when I looked at that sheet music I didn’t just see marks on a piece of paper I heard the music playing through my head. Every dot translating into a pitch that turned into a melody and into a song. That was the hardest part for me.

Music in one of the museums.

Journals and notes in the children's museum.

This wall was in the children's museum and it is filled with artwork the children created while in the camp. these pieces were saved by a teacher that hid them in suitcases and closed them off in the walls. They were found years later after the camp was liberated and a wall caved in.