THERESIENSTADT

144,000 JEWS SENT TO THERESIENSTADT

IT SOON BECAME HOME TO THE JEWS FROM PRAGUE AND THE PROTECTORATE OF BOHEMIA- MORAVIA

THERESIENSTADT CZECH JEWS WERE JOINED BY ELDERLY GERMAN JEWS. DUTCH AND DANISH JEWS ARRIVED LATER. IN CONTRAST TO OTHER GHETTOS IN WHICH THE YOUNG SURVIVED AND THOSE UNABLE TO WORK WERE DEPORTED, THE POPULATION OF THERESIENSTADT GREW OLDER AS THE YOUNG WERE SENT EAST AND THE ELDERLY AND INFIRMED REMAINED.

(A PHOTOGRAPH OF JEWISH CHILDREN IN THE THERESIENSTADT GHETTO TAKEN DURING AN INSPECTION BY THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS. PRIOR TO THIS VISIT, THE GHETTO WAS “BEAUTIFIED” IN ORDER TO DECEIVE THE VISITORS. CZECHOSLOVAKIA, JUNE 23, – COMITE INTERNATIONAL DE LA CROIX ROUGE).

NEVER SAY WRITTEN BY HIRSH GLIK NEVER SAY THIS IS THE LAST ROAD FOR YOU, LEADEN SKIES ARE MASKING DAYS OF BLUE. THE HOUR WE YEARN FOR IS DRAWING NEAR, OUR STEP WILL BEAT THE SIGNAL: WE ARE HERE. FROM SOUTHERN PALMS, FROM LANDS LONG WHITE WITH SNOW, WE COME WITH ALL OUR PAIN AND ALL OUR WOE, WHEREVER SEEPED OUR BLOOD INTO THE EARTH, OUR COURAGE AND OUR STRENGTH WITH HAVE REBIRTH.

NEVER SAY WRITTEN BY HIRSH GLICK TOMORRW’S SUN WILL GILD OUR SAD TODAY. THE ENEMY AND YESTERDAY WILL FADE AWAY BUT SHOULD THE DAWN DELAY OR SUNRISE WAIT TOO LONG THEN LET ALL FUTURE GENERATIONS SING THIS SONG. THIS SONG WAS WRITTEN WITH OUR BLOOD AND NOT WITH LEAD, THIS IS NO SONG OF FREE BIRDS FLYING OVERHEAD, BUT A PEOPLE AMID CRUMBLING WALLS DID STAND, THEY STOOD AND SANG THIS SONG WITH RIFLES HELD IN HAND.

IN KOVNO, THE JEWISH COUNCIL COMMISSIONED ARTISTS TO MAKE A VISUAL RECORD OF GHETTO LIFE. HIRSH KADUSHIN BECAME THE PHOTOGRAPHIC CHRONICLER OF THE KOVNO GHETTO. HE MADE A SMALL CLANDESTINE CAMERA. HE PHOTOGRAPHED EVERY ASPECT OF GHETTO LIFE. AS THE GHETTO WAS BEING DESTROYED, HE BURIED HIS PHOTOGRAPHS. HE RETRIEVED THEM AFTER THE WAR.

THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE EFFORT TO DOCUMENT GHETTO LIFE WAS UNDERTAKIN IN WARSAW DR. EMANUEL RINGELBLUM. – SECRET OPERATION CODE. – OYNEG SHABOS (YIDDISH) OR ONEG SHABBAT (HEBREW). – TRANSLATION: JOY OF THE SABBATH. PRESERVED POSTERS AND DECREES. COMMISSIONED PAPERS. DOCUMENTS. DIARIES.