Terezín

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Statistics
Area:	13.5 km²
Population:	2,992 (2003)
Map

Fortress plan, 1869

For the Nazi concentration camp, see Theresienstadt concentration camp

Terezín (IPA: [ˈtɛrɛzi:n]; German: Theresienstadt) is the name of a former military fortress and garrison town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic.

1 History
2 Terezín During World War II
3 Terezín after World War II
4 Terezín Today
5 External links

[edit] History

In the late 18th century the Austrian empire erected the fortress near the confluence of the Labe and Ohře Rivers, and named it after the Austrian empress Maria Theresa.

Construction started in 1780 and lasted ten years. The total area of the fortress was 3.89 km². The fortification was designed in the tradition of Sébastian le Prestre de Vauban. In peacetime it held 5,655 soldiers, and in wartime around 11,000 soldiers could be placed here, and neighbouring areas could be inundated. Fortress Josefov in eastern Bohemia was built at the same time and had a similar purpose.

The fortress was never active during wartime. During the second half of the 19th century it was used as a prison.

During World War I, the fortress was used as a prisoner-of-war camp. Many thousand supporters of Russia (Russophiles from Galicia and Bukovina) were placed by Austro-Hungarian authorities in the fortress. Gavrilo Princip, who assassinated Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife, starting the war, died there of tuberculosis in 1918.

The cell where Gavrillo Princip was kept.

[edit] Terezín During World War II

Main article: Concentration camp Theresienstadt

During WWII, the Gestapo used Terezín, better known by the German name Theresienstadt, as a concentration camp. The majority of the Jews sent were scholars, professionals, artists and musicians. Inmates were encouraged to lead creative lives, and concerts were even held. Within the camp, parks, grassy areas and flower beds, concert venues and statues were installed to hide the truth; that most of the inmates were going to be killed. This was all part of a Nazi plot to deceive International Red Cross inspectors into believing that Jews were being treated humanely. This façade masked the fact that of the 144,000 Jews were sent there, about 33,000 died, mostly because of the appalling conditions (hunger, stress, disease, and an epidemic of typhus at the very end of the war)^{[citation needed]}. About 88,000 were deported to Auschwitz and other extermination camps^{[citation needed]}. At the end of the war there were 17,247 survivors^{[citation needed]}.

Part of the fortification (Small Fortress) served as the largest Gestapo prison in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, separated from the ghetto. Around 90,000 people went through it, and 2,600 of those died there.

It was liberated on May 9th, 1945 by the Soviet Army.

Inside Theresienstadt today

City church of Terezín

[edit] Terezín after World War II

After the German surrender the small fortress was used as an internment camp for ethnic Germans. The first prisoners arrived on the 10th of may 1945. On the 29th of February 1948 the last German prisoners ware released und the camp was officially closed. Among the interened Germans were on one hand former Nazis like Heinrich Jöckel, the former commander of Terezín or other SS-members. On the other hand a great group of internees was arrested simply an behalf of their German nationality, among them young boys of 12 years or elderly people.

In the first phase of the camp lasting until July 1945 mortality was high due to diseases, malnutrition and incidents of simple outright murder. Commander of the camp in that period was Stanislav Franc, who had been a prisoner of the camp under the Nazis since 1944. He was guided by a spirit of revenge an tolerated any mistreatment of the prisonsers by the guards.

In July 1945 the camp shifted under the control of the Czech ministery for domestic affairs. New commander became Otakar Kalal. From 1946 on the inmates were gradually transferred to Germany and Terezín more and more turned into a hub for the forced migration of Germans form the Czech lands to proper Germany itself.

A small exhibition nowadays reminds of the history of Terzín as internment camp for Germans.

dedicated to the interment camp Terezín

[edit] Terezín Today

After the war, Theresienstadt was resurrected as Terezín, still retaining a military garrison. The army left the city in 1996, which had a negative impact on the local economy. Terezín is still trying to decouple from its military past and become a modern, vibrant town. The city was damaged by floods in 2002 (see pictures).

Terezín is noted for its production of furniture and knitwear as well as for manufacturing.