Town Square in Terezin
Town Square with baroque
church in Terezin, aka Theresienstadt
In the center of Terezin in the Czech
Republic is the Exezierplatz, where military parades were held
when the town was a military garrison. Terezin was formerly known
as Theresienstadt and it is the location of the former Theresienstadt
Ghetto, where Jews were imprisoned by the Nazis in 1941. A beautiful
Baroque church is on the east side of the square. The red-roofed
building on the right is the former Girls' barracks in the Theresienstadt
ghetto.
Church with round fountain
in front of it
The town square in the former Theresienstadt
ghetto is actually square shaped and it is criss-crossed with
paths in the form of an X. When the garrison was originally built
in the 18th century, this square was intended to be the parade
grounds for the soldiers. From 1942 until the end of 1943, a
circus tent stood on the square. It was used to house a factory
where the Jewish prisoners assembled wooden boxes and then packed
in them special equipment to protect military vehicle engines
from freezing. At that time, the whole square was surrounded
by a barbed wire fence. The fountain that is shown in the photo
above was built at a later date.
South side of town
square where music pavilion was built
In 1944, when the Nazis cleaned up the
camp for a Red Cross visit, they removed the fence and took down
the ugly factory tent. A music pavilion was built on the south
side of the square, in front of the cafe which the Nazis had
already set up for the the inmates who were allowed to drink
ersatz coffee and socialize there as they listened to music played
by the ghetto orchestra.
On the north side of the town square
is Rathausgasse (Town Hall Street) where the current town hall
of Terezin is located. During the ghetto days, this building
was used as the Jewish administration's bank, courthouse, post
office and other offices. There were also concerts and performances
of plays in this building. Although the Theresienstadt ghetto
was in actuality a concentration camp, under the jurisdiction
of the SS, it had many of the features of a normal town which
were deliberately set up by the Germans to fool the outside world
into thinking that the Jews were being treated well. The street
names were added when the Nazis cleaned up the town for the Red
Cross inspection in 1944.
The Theresienstadt ghetto even had stores
which the Nazis set up to sell used goods to the Jews.
The prisoners were paid a pittance for their
work, using fake money, which could only be spent in the ghetto.
Eventually, there were 8 stores for the Jews in the Theresienstadt
ghetto.
The location of one of the former stores
is shown on the left in the photograph below. Next to it on the
right is the location of the former cafe where the Jews could
meet and listen to music over a cup of ersatz coffee. Tickets
for a two-hour stay in the cafe could be bought with the camp
money. These buildings face the market square which is now surrounded
by trees. On the far left in the photograph below is an apartment
building.
Building on the left
was a store and on the right was the cafe for the Jews
SS Headquarters building
faces the Market Square
The photograph below shows the SS Headquarters
building which faces the market square. This building, which
flew the black SS flag, had prison cells in the basement where
suspected resistance fighters in the ghetto were interrogated.
SS-Kommandatur which
had prison cells in the basement
To the left of the SS Headquarters is
the building where the former ghetto cafe was located. When I
visited in 2000, the cafe building was an antique store, which
is shown in the photo below.
Antique store is the
former location of Theresienstadt cafe
|