Article: "The Perfect Deception - The Danish Jews and Theresienstadt 1940 - 1945"
"The Perfect Deception. The Danish Jews and Theresienstadt 1940-1945" gives a detailed picture of the historical background for the deportation of Jews from Denmark and a thorough understanding of the conditions the Danish prisoners lived under until the rescue by the White Buses in the spring of 1945.
The article which you can download here is recommended as background material for teachers and students who have previously worked with Theresienstadt.
Content
This article explains the Nazis reasoning for establishing Theresienstadt - a camp that in many ways was constructed and functioned differently than many other ghettos and concentration camps. The article furthermore describes the system of parcels that was organised from Denmark, where parcels with food, clothing etc. were sent from Denmark to the prisoners in Theresienstadt. Finally, the story of how the White Buses brought the prisoners to safety in Sweden when the war was almost is covered.
The article is reproduced here with permission from the author Hans Sode-Madsen, who for a number of years has worked with Denmark during the occupation and the fate of the Danish Jews. The article was originally brought in Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook XXXVIII, 1993, s. 263-290.
