Street Scene of Terezin
Before the Nazi occupation, the garrison town of Terezin (Large Fortress) had 7,000 residents. Beginning in November 1941, the Nazis began deporting Jews to Terezin (which the Nazis renamed as Theresienstadt) as well as slowly moving the non-Jewish population out. The city of Terezin was soon to become the Theresienstadt Ghetto.
Though Theresienstadt was often called the "Model Ghetto," conditions within were similar to a concentration camp. Living conditions were made extreme by overcrowding (a town built for 7,000 was soon to house 60,000) and transports to the East were a constant threat.
Though the Theresienstadt Ghetto had become a place of sorrow and death for thousands of Jews interned there during the Nazi regime, it has once again reverted back to a town. Buildings that were once overcrowded are again homes. Residents walk down the street, live down the street, from the cemetery and crematorium that are the remnants of a time of horror.
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