Terezín - Concentration camp

The town of Terezín (Theresienstadt) was built from 1780 as a city-fortress during the reign of Empress Maria-Theresa and her son Joseph II in order to protect the country and the capital city of Prague from the North against the wars (and the Empress herself faced at least three times the attacks during her reign).

But in time of war, the fort was never used. In peacetime, it served as a prison. The Serbian anarchist Gavrilo Princip was incarcerated here, who assassinated, in June 1914, the successor to the Austrian throne Franz Ferdinand of Este, which was one of the reasons for the beginning of the World War I (1914 - 1918).

In the 2nd World War (1939 - 1945), the fortress was, unfortunately, transformed by the Nazis into a concentration camp, especially for the Czech Jews who lived here in appalling conditions. 6 000 people died there due to inhumane conditions, starvation, diseases, epidemics, forced labour, 88 000 people were transported to Ausschwitz. Most never returned. Visitors can reflect, at these tragic places, on one of the cruelest chapters of the World War II.

The town of Terezín is located, approximately, 60 km northwest of Prague.