A brief history of the Theresienstadt ghetto

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.