The End
Once the Embellishment was over, the residents of Theresienstadt knew there would be further deportations.11 On September 23, 1944, the Nazis ordered a transport of 5,000 able-bodied men. The Nazis had decided to liquidate the Ghetto and initially chose able-bodied men to be on the first transport because the able-bodied were the most likely to rebel. Soon after the 5,000 were deported, another order came for 1,000 more. The Nazis were able to manipulate some of the remaining Jews by offering those who had just sent family members an opportunity to join them by volunteering for the next transport.
After these, transports continued to leave Theresienstadt frequently. All exemptions and "protection lists" were abolished; the Nazis now chose who was to go on each transport. Deportations continued through October. After these transports, only 400 able-bodied men, plus women, children, and elderly were left within the Ghetto.12
What was going to happen to these remaining inhabitants? The Nazis couldn't come to an agreement. Some hoped that they could still cover the inhumane conditions that the Jews has suffered and thus soften their own punishment after the war. Other Nazis realized that there would be no clemency and wanted to dispose of all the incriminating evidence, including the remaining Jews. No real decision was made and in some ways, both were implemented.
In the course of trying to look good, the Nazis made several deals with Switzerland. Even a transport of Theresienstadt inhabitants were sent there. In April 1945, transports and death marches reached Theresienstadt from other Nazi camps. Several of these prisoners had left Theresienstadt just months before. These groups were being evacuated from concentration camps such as Auschwitz and Ravensbrück and other camps farther East. As the Red Army pushed the Nazis farther back, they evacuated the camps. Some of these prisoners arrived on transports while many others arrived on foot. They were in terrible ill-health and some carried typhus. Theresienstadt was unprepared for the large numbers that entered and were unable to properly quarantine those with contagious diseases; thus, a typhus epidemic broke out within Theresienstadt.
Besides typhus, these prisoners brought the truth about the transports East. No longer could Theresienstadt inhabitants hope that the East was not as terrible as the rumors suggested; instead, it was much worse.
On May 3, 1945, the Ghetto Theresienstadt was placed under the protection of the International Red Cross.
Notes
1. Norbert Troller, Thersienstadt: Hitler's Gift to the Jews (Chapel Hill, 1991) 4-6.
2. Zdenek Lederer, Ghetto Theresienstadt (New York, 1983) 37-38.
3. Lederer, 45.
4. Troller, 31.
5. Lederer, 47.
6. Lederer, 49.
7. Lederer, 157-158.
8. Lederer, 28.
9. Lederer, 115.
10. Lederer, 118.
11. Lederer, 146.
12. Lederer, 167.
Bibliography
Lederer, Zdenek. Ghetto Theresienstadt. New York, 1983.
Schwertfeger, Ruth. Women of Theresienstadt: Voices From a Concentration Camp. New York, 1989.
Troller, Norbert. Theresienstadt: Hitler's Gift to the Jews. Chapel Hill, 1991.
Yahil, Leni. The Holocaust: The Fate of European Jewry. New York, 1990.
