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In 1941, the Germans established a Jewish ghetto in the fortress town of
Terezin, Czechoslovakia. Known by its German name, Theresienstadt, until its liberation on May 8, 1945,
it functioned as a ghetto and transit camp on the route to Auschwitz. Theresienstadt served an important propaganda function
for the Germans. In Nazi propaganda, Theresienstadt was cynically described as a "spa town" where elderly
German Jews could "retire" in safety.
Theresienstadt was in reality a collection center for deportations
to ghettos and extermination camps in
Nazi-occupied eastern Europe. The Germans permitted the International Red Cross to visit in June 1944. It was all an
elaborate hoax. The Germans intensified deportations from the ghetto shortly before the visit, and the ghetto itself was "beautified."
Gardens were planted, houses painted, and barracks renovated. The Nazis staged social and cultural events for the visiting
dignitaries. Once the visit was over, the Germans resumed deportations from Theresienstadt.
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In Theresienstadt itself, tens of thousands of people died, mostly from disease or starvation.
In 1942, the death rate within Theresienstadt was so high that the Germans built--to the south of the ghetto--a crematorium
capable of handling almost 200 bodies a day. Of the approximately 140,000 Jews
transferred to Theresienstadt, nearly 90,000 were deported to points further east and almost certain death. Roughly 33,000
died in Theresienstadt itself.
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