Today was an early wake up for a bus ride to Terezin. Terezin was first built as a military fortress mainly to protect against the Prussians, which was abandoned when the threat was no longer there. During the World War 2 the Nazi’s used it as a ghetto camp. There is a smaller fortress where higher placing Czechs were put like diplomats, and musicians. The larger fortress held many more people, despite there being a town that could hold 7,000 people during war there were many more people placed here. The town in the larger fortress look like a regular town but walking through it felt eerie.
One of the museums contained works of many of people living in the ghetto, from musicians, artists, and writers. Many times, despite having worked very long hours they would find time to practice their interests as a way to get their mind of what was happening. I saw many drawings that were beautifully drawn, and they were made during a time when they were crammed into buildings with very little room to move. There interest is one of the things that the Nazi’s couldn’t take from them and to see that they kept practicing it shows that for a while they did not give up on who they were. During the war the international red cross became suspicious of the treatment of Jews in the camps. In response the Nazi’s invited them to visit one of them which happened to be Terezin. Before this happened a new group of Jew’s were sent to Terezin where they rehearsed the visit, each person was given a role. Shops were open, children were swimming in the pools, buildings were painted. This was done to trick the Red Cross into thinking the conditions here were good and after the visit everyone was sent out on the next train.
Swanson School of Engineering 