UNHEARD: THE MISSING PAGES OF HISTORY – Horrors of the Second World War – Terezin

During my visit to Europe, Prague, to be specific, this April, I visited a place which I didn’t know existed till the minute I set foot into it. Terezin was a holiday resort built about 30 miles (48kms) to the north of Prague by Emperor Joseph II of Austria somewhere in the late 18^th century. Named in the honour of his mother Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, who was notably one of the most important Queen of Austria, in German it is spelled as “Theresienstadt”.

The moment you set foot into the main fortress area of Terezin, you are ‘welcomed’ by numerous graves of only some of the people who died here. The entrance itself gives you just a glimpse of how the rest of the ‘tour’ is going to be. First, a holiday destination for the nobles, Terezin was later, during the second world war, converted into a Jewish Ghetto. A ghetto, by definition, means “put in or restrict to an isolated or segregated area or group.”  Terezin was not necessarily a concentration camp but more of a Jewish prison encampment. However, the conditions here were just as terrible, or maybe even worse off, as compared to concentration camps. Most of the people imprisoned here, were later on sent off to concentration camps, mostly Auschwitz. The ones who were not, died much earlier due to the horrible conditions of the prison. Of the numerous men, women and children who were sent off to concentration camps, around only 100 children survived. A girl named Helga Weiss was one of them, who is still alive. At the tender age of 12, she and her parents were interned at Terezin (December 4^th, 1941). There, her father and her and her mother were separated and held in different prison blocks – her father in the males’ block and her and her mother in the womens’ block. During this time, in 1943, Christian X, the king of Denmark demanded an inspection of Terezin to determine the condition of the Danish Jews held there since October of that year. Therefore, there was a red cross visit organized wherein 4 officials were sent to Terezin – 2 Red cross officials and 2 officials from the Danish Government. A charade was put up in order to make them believe that the conditions of the Jews living here was very good. Or to put in the words of a survivor Helga Weiss herself, the prisoners were made to memorize the sentence, for the sake of the propaganda film ‘Terezin’, “I am well in Terezin. I don’t miss anything” and repeat it every time they were asked the question how life is at Terezin, by the Red Cross officials. There was an orchestra which was performed in front of the Red Cross officials called the “Brundibár”. This was performed by the children of Terezin and was composed by the Czech composer Hans Krasa, to make the officials believe that recreation was also a very important part of Terezin and how children were given an opportunity to showcase their talents. Hans Krasa was later on murdered in Auschwitz on 10^th October, 1944, and he wasn’t even 45 years old then.

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The entrance of Terezin

Hans Krasa and the music at Terezin

Helga Weiss recalls how the entire town of Terezin was reformed within a time of 6 months. Crops were grown, flowers were used to decorate the town, merry-go-rounds and see-saws were set up and swimming pools were built, which were ironically, actually meant for the guards of Terezin. Another very important change that was made in the prison of Terezin, was regarding a “Shaving room”. When I visited Terezin, we visited a room where we could see a bunch of sinks lined up on parallel to each other. Apparently, this room was used as a “Shaving room”, or at least that’s what the officials were told. When you check where the pipes of these sinks lead, you will realize that these pipes are connected to absolutely nothing. These rooms were set up to make it look as if the male Jews had the best of the basic amenities being provided in Terezin. The funny part is how the officials didn’t even bother to check whether these pipes worked or not! There were two types of prison cells that existed in Terezin – group bunkers and solitary prisons. The group prisons (picture inserted below), were basically the accommodation areas. If you misbehaved, then you were thrown into the solitary cells. These cells were made in such a manner that the only opening that existed was a small hole on the door, just so that the guards could look in. There were numerous solitary cells that were built, which make us realize the number of prisoners that were held in the solitary cells daily. The group bunkers held 600 Jewish prisoners in such a small area (look at the picture and tell me how many you think could’ve actually lived there). These bunkers were used exactly in the same manner as it is seen in the pictures. The Jews used to sleep on the hard-wooden beds, with 600 people being fit into the same room.

The “Shaving Room” at Terezin built for the Red Cross visit in 1943

The Group bunkers and solitary cells in the extra block at Terezin, which was constructed later on

An extra 4^th block was constructed later on to accommodate the increase number of Jews who were being held in Terezin. During this time, the prisoners started drawing and painting, to cope up with their pathetic lifestyle and keep their hopes alive. Drawing and painting in Terezin wasn’t allowed for the prisoners. Therefore, they had to hide their art work, so as to avoid spending time in the solitary cells. Helga Weiss, when she first came to Terezin, drew a simple drawing of two children playing in the snow with a snowman. She then somehow smuggled it to her father who was in a separate block. He told her, “Draw what you see. Use your talent to express yourself.” And that is exactly what she did. She drew the conditions of her living area, she drew how the men, women and children in Terezin were treated by the German officials. She says that hope was the thing that everyone at Terezin held on to. “If you lost hope, you died.” She also wrote a diary entitled “Helga’s Diary: A Young Girl’s Account of Life in a Concentration Camp”, which was published in 2013. In October 1944, aged 15, Helga and her mother were deported to Auschwitz under the pretence that a new Jewish city was being established for them. Here, they were taken to the concentration camp. On realising that, she convinced the Jewish officials that she was actually older than her actually age and she escaped death, the first time. Then, 10 days later, she was taken to Freiberg near Dresden, an auxiliary camp of Flossenbürg labour camp. There she was again forced to join a 16-day death march to a camp at Mauthausen, and she escaped death once more. She remained there till the camp’s liberation by the US army on 5^th May, 1945. Her father was deported to Auschwitz days before she and her mother were sent off. At the end of the war, when Helga and her mother tried searching for him and found nothing, they realised that he must have perished at Auschwitz itself. There was also a building at Terezin wherein there were 2 “instruments”. The dead body was put inside, burnt and the ashes would then come out from the other end. In the same building, there was a small room with only 2 tables wherein the autopsy, if necessary, would be conducted. The reason the room was so small, is because there were rarely cases when the reason for death was not known. It would either be an epidemic, a disease due to the terrible living conditions or death due to the excessive exertion in the form of physical activities.

The building at Terezin wherein dead bodies were burnt and autopsies were conducted

The artwork by the prisoners of Terezin

When asked what were the lessons that one could learn from the diary, she said, “Read the diary very carefully. Remember what has happened and do something to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. Tolerate each other, understand each other and do not be selfish. Most importantly, give everyone the freedom they deserve, and never lose hope.” Isn’t that all that history is about? Isn’t that the reason why we study history now? To make sure that we learn from what has happened so that we don’t have to see a repetition of the World Wars again. The period between 1939-1945 was a very, very dark period in the history of humanity. People were massacred and killed in a horrendous manner just because they belonged to a particular religion. Irrespective of whether you were a man, woman or child, if you were a Jew, then you deserved to die. That’s the world that existed at one point. So, let us make sure that this doesn’t happen once more. Let’s be tolerant towards each other’s religions and not enforce our opinions and beliefs on others. Let’s live and let live.

Helga Weiss, her diary and artwork at Terezin

Sources: Please do watch the videos below. Helga Weiss, herself, talks about her life at Terezin.

(648) Helga’s Diary: The Holocaust Through the Eyes of a Child – YouTube

Helga Weiss – Helga’s Diary – YouTube

http://www.terezin.org/the-history-of-terezinHelga Weiss – Helga’s Diary – YouTube