In October 1938 Adolf Hitler was
given permission with the conclusion of the Munich Conference to annex the
Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia. Despite
his assurances that he would not seek to invade or otherwise obtain more of the
Czech lands, the German army did so in March 1939. Czechoslovakia ceased to exist and the Czech
lands were incorporated into the Third Reich as the Protectorate of Bohemia and
Moravia. On Oct. 10, 1941, the Reich
Protector, Reinhard Heydrich, held a meeting in Prague to discuss the “Solution
to the Jewish Question” as it related to the Protectorate. He announced that the garrison town of
Theresienstadt, built in 1780 by the Emperor Franz Joseph II, would be utilized
as a temporary “collecting point” for the Jews of Prague and all of Bohemia and
Moravia. Although the implementation of
ghettoization was discussed, Heydrich made clear that the ultimate purpose of
Theresienstadt was to provide a transit camp from which Jews, already “greatly
decimated”, would be sent to the “East”.
Following their evacuation, Theresienstadt could then become an
exemplary German settlement. Indeed, the
creation of the Theresienstadt ghetto was ultimately part of the overall Nazi
policy of waging war in order to expand the German Reich, occupying territories
in order to obtain “Lebensraum” (living space), and destroying European Jewry
to make the Reich “Judenfrei”.
Initially all prisoners had to give up many
personal belongings when they entered the ghetto: medications, toothpaste,
soap, food. This would have also
included music and most musical instruments.
Furthermore, a town that had previously held 7,000 inhabitants was now
divided, with less than half of that area used for the prisoners whose numbers
reached nearly 60,000. The daily life of
the prisoners was unbelievably cruel due to overcrowding, hunger, disease, poor
sanitation, irrational and arbitrary regulations and punishments. Nevertheless, an active cultural life secretly
developed with lectures, plays and concerts held in basements and attics. Among the Jews imprisoned there were numerous
artists, writers, composers, actors, and musicians. Soloists gave recitals, performing from
memory. Later, chamber groups and even orchestras were formed, along with
choruses and enough vocalists to perform operas. Although children were not permitted a formal
education, they were permitted to receive instruction in arts, crafts and
music. Composers were later able to
continue their craft when the Nazis permitted artistic activity by establishing
the Leisure Time Activity Administration; performances of works in the standard
repertoire were given along with new works composed in Theresienstadt.
The Nazis
eventually realized that they could exploit the cultural events of Theresienstadt. Due to the increasing questions from the
International Red Cross regarding the treatment of the Jews, they decided to
create a Potemkin Village, as survivor Zdenka Fantlova termed it. Theresienstadt would serve as a propaganda
tool and “beautification” of the ghetto began in the spring of 1944. Elderly and sick inmates were deported to
decrease the population, prisoners were given new clothes, facades of buildings
were painted, gardens planted.
Representatives of the International Red Cross were invited to visit the
town Hitler gave to the Jews (as a documentary that was made following this visit
was called). The visitors saw children
playing, receiving food and candy, a soccer match with a well-timed goal and
the cheers of the crowd, musical performances, stores with goods, a bank, and a
bakery with freshly baked bread.
Although the subsequent documentary appears never to have been shown,
the visitors came away from their visit with favorable impressions. They would report that the Jews were treated
well; indeed, the propaganda tool had been a success.
Approximately
144,000 people passed through Theresienstadt.
An estimated 33,000 died of starvation, disease, exhaustion and even
suicide while in the ghetto. Many
others were deported, usually to Auschwitz.
Some died while in transit, others were gassed immediately upon arrival
or died later in Auschwitz or another death camp. Roughly 21,000 prisoners survived. Of the 15,000 children who were sent to Theresienstadt,
around 500 survived.
