Theresienstadt

The Oxford Companion to World War II | 2001 | 700+ words | Copyright

Theresienstadt was the German name for the walled town of Terezin in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Situated 56 km. (35 mi.) from Prague it was opened as a camp for Jews in November 1941 on the orders of Reinhard Heydrich, after its Czech inhabitants had been expelled. Called a ghetto by the Nazis, it contained elderly Jews unfit for hard work and certain categories of privileged Jews (war veterans, distinguished individuals, senior civil servants). As such it acted as a suitable cover for those implementing the Final Solution and representatives of the International Red Cross Committee were even allowed to visit it. But it was really a transit camp and out of the 141,162 Jews who were sent there 88,162 were subsequently deported to death camps (see OPERATION REINHARD), 1,623 were released to Sweden or Switzerland in 1945, but 33,456 died there. At the end of the war 16,832 remained alive as did a few thousand non-Jews who were also incarcerated there.

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "Theresienstadt." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "Theresienstadt." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-Theresienstadt.html

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "Theresienstadt." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-Theresienstadt.html

Learn more about citation styles