In Theresienstadt
The prisoners from Denmark arrived at a place that in many ways resembled a regular town, but was not. Although there was supposedly Jewish self-rule in Theresienstadt, everything was done within the framework stipulated by the SS. The town’s residents were Jewish prisoners; they were starving and they were forced to work hard.
From Denmark to Theresienstadt
Theresienstadt was one of the many camps and ghettos established by Nazi Germany as part of the persecution of European Jews. There were about 6500 Jews in Denmark in 1943, and in October that year, most of them succeeded in fleeing to Sweden. However, 472 people were deported during the following months, either because they were Jews, or because they were considered to be Jews by the Nazis. Almost all of them were deported to Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia – now the Czech Republic.
The history of Theresienstadt
Theresienstadt is located 50 km. north of Prague on the way to Dresden. The town was founded around 1780. At that time, Theresienstadt was part of Austria-Hungary and was actually a fortress. As long ago as 1864, Danish prisoners were incarcerated in Theresienstadt. They were Danish soldiers who were taken as prisoners of war during the battle of Dybbøl on 18 April 1864. Theresienstadt’s status as fortress ended in 1888, but the town’s many barracks continued to be used. The German army occupied Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939; and in November 1941, the first Jews from Prague were sent to Theresienstadt.
An “as-if” town
In 1944, the Austrian prisoner Leo Strauss wrote the poem,“Als ob” – “As-if”. The poem describes Theresienstadt as resembling an ordinary town without being one. The first verse goes:
”Ich kenn ein kleines Städtchen,
Ein Städtchen ganz tiptop –
Ich nenn es nicht beim Namen,
Ich nenn’s die stadt Als-ob.”
In the poem, he describes the ‘as-if town’, where people live their lives as if they were lives, and listen to rumours as if they were the truth. They drink “as-if coffee” and eat “as-if food”. They lie on the floor as if it were a bed. And they accept their harsh fate as if it were not so harsh and speak about the future as if it were already there.
‘Self-rule’
Theresienstadt had so-called Jewish self-administration. This meant that an Elder of the Jews (Judenälteste) was appointed to lead the so-called Council of Jewish Elders (Judenrat), which might be compared to a mayor and a city council. But in reality, they had no power to speak of. Everything had to be approved by the camp commander. It was he who issued the orders in the first place, and then the Council of Jewish Elders could decide how the order should be implemented. For example, the council would receive an order to deport a certain number of prisoners to Auschwitz. The council was then left to make the hard decision of naming which prisoners to deport. To the extent it was possible, the council attempted to improve conditions in the camp. They were responsible for the camp’s health services, delegating work in the camp, and the camp’s cultural activities.
Arrival
When the prisoners arrived at Theresienstadt, their entire luggage was searched and everything of value was confiscated. The prisoners were given yellow stars of cloth inscribed with ’Jude’ along with a so-called transport number. The number was not tattooed on their skin as it was in Auschwitz, but they had to remember their number – the number was the prisoner’s identity.
Housing
There were different categories of prisoners in Theresienstadt, and some prisoners had better housing conditions than others.
Most families were separated and lived in crowded attics in the old military barracks – in large rooms with bunk beds, some for women, often together with the smaller children, and others for men. Many children lived in a children’s home in Theresienstadt. Among the Danish prisoners, a little group of ’prominent’ prisoners had certain privileges: the families were allowed to live in a room together. Sometimes, several such ’prominent’ families were put in one room together, but the families were not separated. Upon arrival, those women who could work were housed in the Hamburg barracks, and the men in the attic of the Hannover barracks. One survivor called this attic Hotel Floh – Hotel of Fleas.
Work
The prisoners who were able to work were sent to do hard physical labour – both adults and children. The prisoners worked in the various workshops in Theresienstadt or in the SS officers’ gardens or they built roads. In one such workshop the workers split mica, a mineral used in the war industry. Splitting mica into thin flakes was both difficult and tedious. Other workshops produced uniforms, baked bread or made shoes. Some products were sent to Germany; others were used in the camp – bread, for example. The prisoners could also be put to work in the camp’s hospital, post office or nursing home. Some of the young men worked as pallbearers.
Family time
After a long, hard workday, the families did not have much time to be together, and the crowded conditions in the big rooms where they slept did not make it easier. It was impossible to maintain a normal family life, but they tried anyway. One Danish prisoner later described an evening in Theresienstadt:
Hunger
The prisoners in Theresienstadt were starved. The food they received in the camp was terrible. Every third day they received a ration of bread to eat with a thin, greyish soup. There was never any fruit, vegetables or eggs and only very rarely milk for the children. In all, their daily meals provided about 1000 calories, while an adult needs about 3000 calories daily. Therefore, many people in the camp died of hunger or malnutrition. The youngsters who worked extra hard received a slightly larger food ration than the other prisoners. The elderly often sat beside the food queue and begged for food. Alex Eisenberg described it in this way:
Food parcels
During the spring of 1944, conditions changed drastically for the group of Danish prisoners. They began to receive food parcels sent from Denmark. At first, ordinary people, e.g. organized by a network of priests, simply sent parcels through the postal service from Denmark to Theresienstadt. They had not asked permission – they just did it, and the parcels actually arrived at the camp. In summer 1944, official permission was given for the Danes to receive parcels from home, and the Red Cross took over some of the deliveries. The parcels were mostly paid for by the Social Ministry, which transferred funds to “Fund of 1944 for Social and Humanitarian Purposes”. The neutral name referred to the parcels bound for Theresienstadt, and in this way, the government could give money without the occupation force knowing about it.
Prisoners from other countries could also receive food parcels, but due to famine in most of the occupied countries, it was difficult to obtain permission to send food out of the country. Therefore, the only prisoners who received food parcels were those who were lucky enough to know someone who would and could receive permission to send them.
Food!
In the camp, the prisoners had to pick up their parcels at the post office. They also had to pay a kind of customs in order to receive them. They paid the customs from the ‘wages’ they received for working in the camp. In Theresienstadt, special money was used, but for the most part, nothing could be bought with it. There was a shop, where they could buy mustard powder and used toothbrushes, but not real food.
With the arrival of the food parcels, the prisoners from Denmark got a substantial supplement to the poor camp food. They were suddenly ‘rich’ and could trade food for other things they lacked, like shoes, clothing or an extra blanket. The Danish prisoners were of course very happy and grateful for the food, even though it was not always fresh after the long train trip through war-torn Europe.