Theresienstadt Played a Significant Role in Shoah

Surprisingly significant, I should say… although mostly for propaganda purposes. According to the official “evacuation” policy (presented ay Wannsee Conference), elderly and “prominent” Jews from Germany, Austria, Sudetenland, Bohemia and Moravia were shipped to Theresienstadt to “expire at a natural rate”. In reality, it was anything but natural… and Theresienstadt was not what it seemed at all.

Theresienstadt Ghetto was established on November 24, 1941, by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terez;n, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Unlike other ghettos, the exploitation of forced labor was not economically significant.

The first inhabitants of ghetto came (not surprisingly) from the Protectorate; the first German and Austrian Jews arrived in June 1942; Dutch and Danish Jews came at the beginning in 1943, and prisoners of a wide variety of nationalities were sent to Theresienstadt in the last months of the war.

About 33,000 people died at Theresienstadt, mostly from malnutrition and disease. More than 88,000 people were held there for months or years before being deported to extermination camps and other killing sites – hence, in reality, it was mostly a transit camp. Transit to killing centers that is.

Theresienstadt was known for its relatively rich cultural life, including concerts, lectures, and clandestine education for children. The fact that it was governed by a Jewish self-administration as well as the large number of “prominent” Jews imprisoned there facilitated the flourishing of cultural life. This spiritual legacy has attracted the attention of scholars and sparked interest in the ghetto.

At the Wannsee Conference, Heydrich announced that Theresienstadt would be used to house Jews over the age of 65 from the Reich, as well as those who had been severely wounded fighting for the Central Powers in World War I or won the Iron Cross 1st Class or a higher decoration during that war.

These Jews could not plausibly perform forced labor, and therefore Theresienstadt helped conceal the true nature of deportation to the East. Later, Theresienstadt also came to house “prominent” Jews whose disappearance in an extermination camp could have drawn attention from abroad.

To lull victims into a false sense of security, the SS advertised Theresienstadt as a “spa town” where Jews could retire, and encouraged them to sign fraudulent home purchase contracts, pay “deposits” for rent and board, and surrender life insurance policies and other assets to finance their life in the ghetto.