Terezín

Prisoners also had to contend with cramped conditions, disease, vermin, extreme cold, and cramped living quarters. An exhibit at the Magdeburg Barracks shows how crowded the rooms were, crammed with replica triple-bunk beds, sleeping 68 people. When the camp’s population reached a peak of 58,000 in September, 1942, there could be 100 people per room. Food amounted to little more than bread, so people were forced to rummage for potato peels. In the cold, their fingers froze to the metal food bowls.

Cultural Resistance
Amongst this horror, the people within Terezín tried to retain a cultural life, be it through religious observance or intellectual discussions. Some cultural activities were more formal, such as musical or theater performances. Magdeburg Barracks has exhibitions devoted to this somewhat surprising aspect of the camp. Composers such as Pavel Haas and Viktor Ullmann wrote music there, examples of which are collected on CD. Some concerts were held at the cafe (at the corner of the streets 5. října and Tyršova). Given the sheer number of people, visits by any individual were seldom. Performances were routinely interrupted as actors or musicians were sent on transports.

Visual artists were equally active in recording both their surroundings and the emotional response. Examples of their work are on display at the Magdeburg Barracks. Of the pieces collected, it is the caricatures of Bedřich Fritta which best record the inner life of the prisoners. Sunken-eyed and drawn-out people huddle in nightmarish backdrops. A photo may be more accurate, but only a picture can be this expressive. On the other extreme, Peter Kein, who was also a talented writer, drew more naturalistic portraits and preserved the humanity and dignity of his subjects.

Children also contributed to the cultural life within the prison. Sometimes, it was with their simple drawings or poems, on display at the Ghetto Museum and collected in the book I have not seen a butterfly. In many cases, these are all that remain of the children. Another dimension to the children’s cultural life is the magazine Vedem, which was secretly produced by teenage boys in the camp. The website has excerpts and scans of the original hand-made magazine. Sadly, many of the boys were deported to Auschwitz, where they were gassed. It is also possible to read examples of the magazine in the book We Are Children Just the Same.

The Small Fortress
Across the river Ohře is the so-called Small Fortress. Formerly a prison during the time of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the Gestapo kept political prisoners here during the war. Conditions were equally decrepit and cramped as in the concentration camp. Prisoners slept on bare wooden bunks with as many as 100 per room. Typhus, scurvy and dysentery were rife along with a variety of parasites. Rations were sometimes kept at 500 calories a day, which is below starvation levels.

Even more horrific was the treatment of Jewish prisoners. They were held in a white-walled room with a cement floor and a small single window. It served as a solitary confinement cell during the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Under the Gestapo command, more than 30 people could be squeezed in here, and the only fixture was the occasional bucket for the prisoners to use as a toilet. The cramped conditions, non-existent sanitation, and poor ventilation meant the cells were practically death traps. Many suffocated within its walls.

To combat the biting insects, prisoners were expected to shower once a week, but even the Gestapo turned this into an exercise in degradation. Hot water was unreliable – if there was water at all. When they did shower, guards would turn off the water before the people could rinse themselves off, and afterward the still-wet prisoners had to change into wet clothes which had just been steam cleaned. The chemicals used to disinfect the clothes burnt the skin and in the deep winter, the damp uniforms would freeze.

In stark contrast, the families of the guards had a swimming pool with its own water source. The pool cost the lives of 60 prisoners (mostly Jewish prisoners and students from Roudnice), and was located along the route to the execution spot. In the warmer months, while they bathed, the families of the guards would have heard the gunshots coming from over the wall only a few meters away.

Escape
Few escape attempts are documented. Even fewer were successful. The one which is perhaps the most well-known is the escape of Miloš Ešner, Josef Mattas and František Maršík. The three men carefully planned every detail, ensuring they would have food and money for the outside and smuggling a ladder so they could get out of the moat once they’d dropped into it. The tale of their escape is vividly recounted in Útěk z Malé pevnosti Terezín (Escape from the Small Fortress Terezín). At the moment it’s not in English.