The sky was gloomy and gray this morning as we walked up to the gates of Terezin, a concentration camp about an hour away from Prague. Walking from room to room in the barrack-style camp, combined with the weather, made for an eerie experience. It was so surreal to be there after learning and reading about concentration camps for several years. Terezin wasn’t meant to be a death camp, like Auschwitz and others, but rather a holding place for Jews. Even so, 2,600 prisoners died there, while 5,500 died after being deported from Terezin to other concentration camps.
One of the most sickening things I learned today was the fact that the Nazis forced Terezin prisoners to act in propoganda films to be released to the public, all of which portrayed the camp as a lively and fun place to live. They staged concerts, a soccer game, and children playing so they could decieve people. In “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay,” a book I mentioned a few posts ago, Joe mentions recieving a letter from his mother saying she and the rest of his family were being sent to Terezin, which was a “nice community for Jewish people.” We learned today that letters from prisoners to the outside world were forged or manipulated in order to appear positive about the living situation in the camp.
