One
of the most unusual of the camps, Terezin is a garrison town built
in the 18th century northwest of Prague. It consists of the Great
Fortress and the nearby Small Fortress. The Nazis forced the residents
of the town to leave in the early 1940s then turned it into a so-called
"model ghetto" for the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia, as well as for
prominent German Jews. An elaborate ruse was created for the Red
Cross delegation that visited the camp on June 23, 1944. The delegation
only spent a few hours at the camp and apparently did not discover
that, for the vast majority of Jews sent there, Terezin was merely
a temporary stop before being deported to Auschwitz or one of the
other killing centers. Today is Great Fortress is again a Czech
city, while the Small fortress is a museum and memorial.
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