Theresienstadt
Theresienstadt

At the end of the year 1943, the Danish government expressed its anxiety concerning the life conditions of the ghetto of Theresienstadt, since 466 Danish Jews had been sent there. Therefore, a visit of the International Red Cross was planned, in order to report on the situation. Even before the complaint of the Danish authorities, the Nazis had tried to turn the ghetto into a propaganda tool. On September 1942, the Nazis had opened shops where the Jews could buy second-hand clothes and other goods. On December of the same year, they had opened a café where Jewish inmates could meet and listen to music. A bank was opened in May 1943. Camp money was printed to pay the Jews for their labor in the ghetto factories. The money could also be used at the shops and the café.
The Red Cross visit triggered extensive improvements, starting in spring 1944. In the end, the Nazis were so proud of the result of their work they made a movie on Theresienstadt, “Der Führer schenket den Juden eine Stadt”. The fence that surrounded the town square was removed, and replaced by flowers and grass. A music pavilion was built, as well as a playground for children in the Stadt park. The Sokol building, in the outskirts of the town, was transformed into a social club with a library and a synagogue. Tombstones were placed on the graves in the cemetery. As the ghetto was still overcrowded, a fact that could have alerted the Red Cross delegates, seven transports to Auschwitz were organized.
The Red Cross visit lasted for six hours, but the cultural events (the ‘Ghetto Swingers’, a jazz band; an orchestra playing classical music; a children’s opera) went on for one week.
In the fall 1944, the transports to the east resumed.
In September 1944, the Red Cross visited Auschwitz, but failed to notice that the purported shower rooms were gas chambers.
In the 1948 released report of the Red Cross, volume III, page 594: “Not only the washing places but installations for baths, showers and laundry were inspected by the delegates. They had often to take action to have fixtures made less primitive, or to get them repaired or enlarged”.

Photo 2: School Lohfled project, youth books on Nazism (2006)
http://realschule.lohfeld.de/ns-zeit/nszeit.html
Photo 3: John Malmer
http://www.john-malmer.dk/egen%20website/rejser.htm
Photo 4: During the visit of the Red Cross