Theresienstadt (Terezin)

The square which looks like a citypark with grass and some trees is extremely dull and bare and is enclosed by buildings in which WWII Jews have been seated. This part of the city MUST be the (in)famous Theresienstadt ghetto. When I entered the city I saw the fort walls and the zigzag fortress that I know for pictures.

Unfortunately, these towns are much more impressive from above than from the ground. I walk directly to the fortification walls to find out that the buildings have been neglected - a large site with stones and concrete has been deposited for cars and when I walk there I see that almost all the windows of this beautiful Baroque building are broken and there is only a lot of waste and rubbish. 

I walk on top of the fortress walls to see where I am. It is all dredging and in between the walls (there are several) a company is attached with horses, chickens, goats and I see a few trailers and cars parked. I stagger down again and decide to follow the wall to the road where the wall was removed at the end of the 19th century for widening the road. On the other side I climb up again, now over the stone staircase to end up in the dry moat again. I suppose, so to see, that in the future they want to lay a nice path here so that you can make a beautiful walk over the ramparts of this old city. You get an idea here how it must have looked with all those red brick walls.

Back on the street I notice that the city is partly inhabited and partly neglected - it is clear that there are companies in the old barracks that are located in the walls - mostly garages and car companies where some have put a large fence. I have now arrived at the other side of the site where again a gate has been widened for traffic - there have been barracks with Nazis who have taken the belongings of prisoners who arrived here by train - you can even see parts of traintracks here. There are plaques put down and there is a very romantic pension net and a sign on which "crematorium" is written.

I walk past the various fortification walls, between which small channels have been dug and sometimes a large wooden gate in a wall. 

I walk to the Magdeburg barracks - a large building where the "Jewish" government operated from during the war. Here I buy a combined ticket for all the sights and walk to the first floor for four exhibitions; one about life in a barrack, music, theater and writing in the ghetto of Theresienstadt.

I walk through one of the two water gates and reach a path along the river that brings me to the bridge and to the other side where it is still about 500 meters to the small fortress - where the infamous Gestapo prison was situated. 

Before arriving at the infamous black and white entrance-gate there is the national cemetery where people from the mass graves have been reburied. Currently there is a large cross and a Star of David. The walls of the small fortress look renovated and when you pass the gate you see on the right the women's courtyard with countless individual prisons. There’s also a big prison and then directly the SS canteen which is now a restaurant. I walk on and skip the route as there is just a big club of school children going that way. A little further on, on the right side of a large building where, I assume, the administration of the SS was situated, is now decorated as a museum and I decide to take a look at that first.

When I arrive outside I see another entrance that has been blocked and then another gate where I arrive at a small courtyard with some memorials, flowers and candles. I assume that this was a kind of execution place, because there is room for prayer and silence. Then I come to a large courtyard where barracks are built on both sides. I read that this place was chosen to carry out torture, executions and hangings so that everyone could see it and serve as a deterrent.

On one side there are individual pens that serve as a prison - on the other side larger rooms with wooden bunk beds, a small gas stove, a wooden box that was used as a toilet and a sink. In the middle of these spaces are a number of wooden tables and benches.

I go back to the open space in the middle of the fortress and then walk towards the cinema. It’s interesting to see a part of movie shot during the war. After a quarter of an hour, I walk out of the office on the other side and arrive at the spot between the walls where executions have taken place.

There is a wreath of flowers and on the spot from which it was shot (at least that's what I assume) are three crosses built of concrete. Finally, I arrive at a large shack, so it seems that it served as a corpses storage room. A lugubrious affair where I quickly walk out again. This is the men's block and you can get a good picture of what it looked like next to the names of the buildings.

There are shower and wash rooms, individual and collective cells, insulation cells, administration offices, garages and workshops.