Theresienstadt Ghetto and concentration camp

*Arbeit macht frei* ("work makes you free") above]]
The **Theresienstadt Ghetto and concentration camp** was a Nazi transit ghetto, a ghetto-labor camp, and a concentration camp during World War II. It was one of many Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust. 

The ghetto and concentration camp was partially liquidated between January 1942 and September 1944, and ultimately liberated on 8 May 1945, by the Soviet Bolshevik Red Army, advancing through the territories ruled by Nazi Germany. 

## History 
### Creation 
In 1940 the Theresienstadt Ghetto was created in the medieval fortress town of Terézin, in the Czech province of Bohemia. At the time, all Jews from Terézin were required to live in a ghetto. (Most German-occupied countries in Central and Eastern Europe had this rule.)  

One year later, in October of 1941, Nazi officers began arresting and deporting Czech Jews from the provinces of Bohemia and Moravia. They sent these Jews to Theresienstadt because it was the only Nazi ghetto in Bohemia and Moravia. 

The first transport happened on 24 November 1941. Nazi officers arrested and deported 342 Jewish young men to the Theresienstadt Ghetto. The young men were forced to clean up the ghetto; help the German officers evict Terezín Jews from most parts of the ghetto; force these people into a small and overcrowded part of the ghetto; and then convert the large and empty spaces of the ghetto into a concentration camp. Then, the German officers sent all of the young Jewish men to live in the concentration camp, and patiently wait for the arrivals of other Jews. It was at this point that Theresienstadt became both a ghetto and concentration camp. 

### Mass deportations 
During the Nazi occupation in 1941-1942, the Nazis deported nearly all Jewish people in Bohemia and Moravia to Theresienstadt. The deported Jews came from different occupations, professions, ages, and genders.

On 4 December 1941, the second transport, about more than 1000 Jewish men were deported from Bohemia and Moravia to Theresienstadt. The Nazi officers would later appoint one of the 1000 Jewish men as the head of the Judenrat Council of Elders, and several others as members. The Council eventually participated in choosing who to deport to other ghettos or concentration camps, which was very controversial.

Beginning in 1942, thousands of Jewish people, regardless of age and sex, were deported to Theresienstadt from Bohemia and Moravia, Germany, the Netherlands, and Austria. From there, most of them would be further deported to seperate ghettos and concentration camps in central and eastern European occupied territories. 

During partial liquidation actions in 1942, 1943, and 1944, Jews were deported to and also from the Riga Ghetto, Białystok Ghetto, Auschwitz concentration camp, and others. By 1943, Jewish people from German-occupied Denmark were also deported to Theresienstadt. 

Beginning in 1944, in order to ease the feeling of overcrowding in Theresienstadt Ghetto, thousands of Jewish people (mostly the weak, ill, and  elderly), were deported to Auszchwitz.

## Conditions 
### Cultural life 
Theresienstadt is best known for its cultural lifestyle. There were secret classes and education for children. The camp had frequent cultural activities and entertainment like "comedy shows, operettas and readings from the Bible and Jewish literature." It even had a lending library with 60,000 books.

## Related pages 
* Kraków Ghetto
* Rubzewitz Ghetto
* Warsaw Ghetto
* Lwów Ghettos

## References