The Shoah (1939–1945)
Opening of the Theresienstadt ghetto
24 nov. 1941 – mai 1945·Theresienstadt
The toll is reproduced exactly as the source states it — never rounded, never added to another. Tolls overlap from one event to the next.
Presented as a retirement town for elderly Jews and decorated Reich members, the ghetto serves as an antechamber to extermination centers: approximately 155,000 people pass through, 33,000 die there and 88,000 are deported eastward.
Opened on 24 November 1941 in a fortress town in Bohemia, the Theresienstadt ghetto was presented to the world as a retirement town for elderly Jews, veterans, and decorated citizens of the Reich. Those concerned purchased their place by contract, believing they were buying safety. The reality was overcrowding, hunger, and disease in barracks designed for a garrison.
The ghetto served above all as an antechamber: most of those who entered were deported by convoy to Auschwitz and other extermination centers. It also served as a showcase — a Red Cross delegation was received on a guided tour following a staged beautification, and a film was made. Cultural life there was intense, with concerts, lectures, and the children's opera Brundibár, performed by children of whom almost none survived. The camp was liberated in May 1945.
- Period :
- The Shoah (1939–1945)
- Type :
- Shoah
- Region :
- Central and Eastern Europe
- Country :
- Tchéquie
Archives du ghetto de Theresienstadt ; rapports de la Croix-Rouge et témoignages des survivants.