This was a very good tour if you like this sort of thing which I do. Very emotional to think about how the Nazis tried to get rid of Jews from every country.This is particular was very sad as it looks so normal to you when you look at it except there were walls built around about it and life went on for everyone else in the surrounding areas. We went with a guide called Pavel Batel who came highly recommended and no wonder. Boy does he know his stuff. He was so knowledgeable. It was a pleasure to meet him and if you ever go there you should do the tour with him and no one else
I met Terezin camp survivor last night . She is 93 years old. Almost 70 years ago she was performing in Terezin as one off a large number of prisoners organized into a choir by Czech Jewish inmate Rafael Schachter. It was a part of the Nazi propaganda strategy for the Red Cross visit . They performed Verdi's Requiem. They had high hopes that the charade of the normal life in the camp created specifically for this visit will be uncovered by the Red Cross. But once the visit was over, the deportations were resumed to Auschwitz including Schachter and most of his chorus.He died one month before the war ended. She survived. I could not bring myself to ask her how she survived. Memories that are surely too painful to share with a stranger. She was a guest at the last night performance in the Lincoln Center, a small woman with a clear mind and unbreakable spirit. The performance in the Lincoln Center in New York City of THE DEFIANT REQUIEM :VERDI AT TEREZIN , memorialized the amazing spirit of the people that endured the daily inhuman conditions in the hands of the Nazi's. Chorus and a large orchestra filled the Avery Fisher Hall stage in Lincoln Center last night. It was very moving and unforgettable experience. The Defiant Requiem : Verdi, was also performed in the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague to a huge audience.This was the prisoners motto: WE WILL SING TO THEM, WHAT WE CANNOT SAY TO THEM....I thought this may be off interest to tourists visiting Terezin, as It may help broaden their experience as they learn about the prisoners concerts in Terezin.
We booked with Viator for this trip and while we thought Terezin itself was definitely worth a visit, we would have preferred a bit more guidance from our tour guide. We were left to look around each of the exhibitions quite independently following a short (but very friendly) introduction and quite often I would have preferred a little more time in each one. We had a separate guide for the smaller Terezin 'prison' who was very informative and very enthusiastic about telling the story of the people who went there. Highlight for me was seeing the artwork - not just the well-publicized children's work - but also that of adult artists who hid the pictures that told the real truth about Terezin. Would recommend, especially as a good way to get out of Prague for the day if you're on a longer holiday.
terezin is a unchanged monument to the atrocities of war on Jews. It's very somber, there are few shops for folk that live there. There is a heck of a lot to see. The accommodation, huge shower rooms and when you read about what happened there! It's so sad. The Jews were kept in ever smaller plots here, where there's masses of open space. It must have been hell, knowing the green open space is out there and you're not allowed to see it.The buildings have been kept, run down as they are, which is the right thing to do here. Very somber. But also, a great side trip from Prague.
Theresienstadt, built in the late 18th century and named after the Austrian Arch-Duchess Maria Theresa, was originally intended to serve as a fort, but by the late 19th century it was used to house political and military prisoners. The most famous of these inmates prior to WW II was the tubercular Gavrilo Princep, who was incarcerated here after assassinating Arch-Duke Franz Ferdinand. During WW II the fort was used as a concentration/transit camp for Jews bound for Auschwitz, Treblinka, and other extermination camps in Poland. The camp was believed to house nearly 60,000 prisoners at one point, and 30,000 perished while it was in operation. Theresienstadt was chosen by the Nazis as the centerpiece of a propaganda campaign meant to deceive the world to the true intentions of the camp. Fake stores were constructed that overflowed with produce, dry goods, and other basic necessities. Newsreel footage showed the "happy" inhabitants, many of whom were children, dancing, playing games, and enjoying arts and crafts. The Red Cross was even brought in to emphasize the humanitarian treatment the prisoners supposedly received. Many of those filmed were granted a temporary reprieve from being transported to the death camps in Poland but unfortunately most would eventually perish. While the death count was far less than Auschwitz, Theresienstadt was nevertheless an important part of the history of the Holocaust and a sobering reminder that evil is only possible when good men do nothing.
This is the famous Terezin Concentration Camp, which the Nazis tried to depict as a "show camp" for the International Red Cross during WW2 (and succeeded). The Jews of Prague were sent here and placed into a ghetto. Terezin was to be the first transit camp from which Jews would be sent east to the gas chambers at other concentration camps. The admission price comes with a state tour guide who walks you through the camp. Our guide was quite good. There is a museum outside of the camp proper that provides a glimpse into the lives of the internees. The museum also shows the propaganda movie the Nazis made to allay rising concerns that they were gassing Jews.
We arrived after xmas 2014 in Prague. The second day, we took the tour to Terezin with Pavel Batel. He picked us up at our hotel and we drove in his car to Terezin. It was an unforgettable day, which you can't imagine if you never went to concentration camp or something similar. We were impressed about the knowledge he shared with us on a very fluent and easy to understand way. He knows a lot, and that's an understatement. If you're around, call him. Seriously.
I recently spent a day at Terezin with Pavel and am very glad that I did. I had never been to a concentration camp before and the experience of being there was unlike any other. Pavel provided information not just about what I was seeing, but also about the surrounding content; he is just as concerned about the why + how as he is about the what. Moreover, he is extremely personable, thoughtful, and engaging. I have only seen Terezin with Pavel, but I it to be experience tremendously moving and enlightening and would certainly recommend it.
I recommend Pavel Batel to everybody who wants to experience Terezin deeply as our group did. Knowledge and his narration skills are just outstanding and everything about him on Tripadvisor is for real. Few weeks past and we still are talking about Terezin and Pavel. We traveled back in time with him. Unforgettable experience!
Our family spent a whole day tour with Pavel in Terezin. We were a group with children and parents, and we were all fascinated by his extended knowledge Pavel picked us up from our apatment in Prague, and from the minute we got into the car it was an overwhelming, interesting and edifying experience.Pavel has unbelievabe immense knowledge about Terezin. due to years of ouring, studying and interviewing survivors.It's a true MUST if you intend to visit Teresin camp.Wasser & Paul families