How is it Remembered?

It took extraordinary effort for the story of Terezín to be told after the war. Under the totalitarian Czech regime, the very idea of a holocaust museum was thwarted for nearly 50 years. Now, Terezín is known the world over as a tragic symbol of Nazi terrorism.

Both the town and Small Fortress of Terezín were used as persecution facilities. The establishment of the Terezín Ghetto was part of the plan to isolate the Jews from the rest of the population, concentrate them together and then send them east for final liquidation.

Men, women and children were forced to live separately from each other. They lived in barracks - mostly up to 400 to a room - and in attics, cellars and yards. There was a permanent lack of food. Restrictions of all kinds were imposed to intimidate the prisoners and create an atmosphere of fear and resignation.

Yet under these most difficult conditions, the inmates made the camp function, provided encouragement and spiritual leadership to each other, and offered knowledge and beauty. They gave each other the strength to resist and the faith to survive. And their contributions were not the least belittled by the fact that they could not stop the transports to the east.

The Ghetto Museum offers permanent and temporary exhibits on the history of the ghetto, films and guided tours. The Jewish Cemetery, built outside the walls of the ghetto, provides irrefutable evidence of the role Terezín in the “Final Solution.” Its crematorium houses permanent exhibits on mortality and burials in the ghetto.

The Magdeburg Barracks, a seat of Jewish self-government during the war, includes a reconstruction of a dormitory and permanent exhibits about the music, literature, fine art and theater in the ghetto; a testament to the indomitable human spirit.

Visitors can also take guided tours of the Small Fortress and its permanent exhibits devoted to pre-WWII history of Terezín, Art of the Memorial, and the Litomerice concentration camp (1944-45).

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How is it Remembered?