Definitions for "Theresienstadt"
The German name for the Czech town of Terezin, located about 40 miles from Prague. In mid-October 1941, Theresienstadt was converted into a ghetto for Jewish deportees en route to killing centers in the East. More than 140,000 European Jews (73,000 from Bohemia and Moravia, 42,000 from Germany, 16,000 from Austria, 5,000 from the Netherlands, and a small number from Denmark) were imprisoned in Theresienstadt. Approximately 35,000 Jews died in the ghetto and 88,000 were redeported to the East. Barely 2,000 of the 15,000 children survived. The Soviet Army liberated Theresienstadt on May 8, 1945.
Originally an Austrian garrison. In early 1942 it became a Jewish town governed by the SS, although used as a model for the Red Cross. Eventually, 88,000 of the invalids, prominent Jews and other special cases who were sent there, were deported to death or labor camps in the East. When the Red Army liberated it on May 8, 1945, on 17,000 original Jewish prisoners remained, plus another 14,000 evacuated from other camps threatened by the Allies.
A Potempkin village of camps, it was shown to observers as a model camp, though it was deceptively better than its brethren. In reality, it was actually just a stopping point on the way to Auschwitz. It was also called Terezin.