The Nazis’ successful deceptio

Theresienstadt is a very interesting concentration camp in many aspects. Inmates were treated more favorably for various reasons. Some of Europe’s most gifted and famous artists, writers or leaders of the Jewish Community were sent there. Conditions in Theresienstadt were among the best in all of the concentration and death camps (Feldmann 270). In addition to that the descendants of Madeleine Albright who was the Secretary of State under the Clinton administration were incarcerated there (Schulz). Nevertheless, this unique concentration camp is still most famous and known for the Red Cross visit.

Theresienstadt’s background appears silent and dull. Named after the empress Maria Theresa, emperor Joseph II of Austria, her son, built it in 1780. Except for the incarceration of the assassins of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife in 1914, which had been the immediate cause of World War I, nothing worth mentioning ever happened to this little Garrison town (“Terezin…”). This changed dramatically when the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia and decided to convert it into a concentration camp. Theresienstadt be

The Nazis were promptly starting to give Theresienstadt, the previously selected camp, a whole makeover missing not one little detail. Many buildings were changed taking on new purposes, and some structures were even built just for the visit. A former villa that had been inhabited by a German citizen turned into a temporary infirmary for sick children. The long-ago cinema, which had been packed with old people living there, regained its purpose of an auditorium. The building, which had served as a shelter for the chronically ill was converted into a social center including a performance hall and a synagogue. A modern children’s home was built along with a playground and even a swimming pool was constructed. (“Shofar FTP…”).

The goal was to have it look like a nice, self-governing, Jewish town. The Nazis set up fourteen shops “(…) which were basically stocked with things pilfered from the

In the end the Nazis smiled. They had made the committee believe exactly what they wanted them to think. They had deceived the Red Cross and through this the whole world. The Red Cross has been highly criticized for the good report they had issued since then (“The Red Cross…”). But still, the atrocities that happened under the Nazi regime, especially the horrific suffering of the Jews in the camps, remained mostly uncovered until the end of the war.

Everything was cleaned up and polished which meant that especially sanitary conditions improved. The Jews had to scrub streets and sidewalks until the entire ghetto gleamed: “The residences along the route mapped out for the commission were literally white-washed to cover up all telltale signs of grime visible at a superficial glance” (“Shofar FTP…”). The workers who cooked and distributed the food received white gloves (“Shofar FTP…”).

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