The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is one of those movies that is engraved in my memory.. That movie that started with little Bruno making friends with Shmuel and creating a fun world for themselves, but ended so sadly… Part of the heartbreaking movie was shot in the Terezin Camp…
I didn’t think I would be so impressed when I went to the “Town of Death”, which is 1.5 hours away from Prague.. It still smelled like death.. The feeling of witnessing the greatest brutality of recent history was unbelievable when you came to the area where the camp is in a deep silence.. Before I even entered the camp, my throat was knotted and my hands were frozen.. For the first time, I believed in the saying that the place has a soul.
About 30,000 prisoners were brought to Terezin, which was used as a prison but was occupied by the Nazis after 1940 and turned into a Jewish concentration camp.. The prisoners were gathered in the camps with the promise of “work” through the door with the inscription “Work is Freedom” with the Turkish translation of “Arbeit Macht Frei”. They worked and lived in such harsh conditions! (I don’t know if it’s called living) it is still possible to see the traces of it.
Communal dormitories (approximately 150 people!) are another dimension of torture.. In addition to being condemned to sleep on wooden beds, the fact that they only have 1 toilet right makes your blood run cold.. After walking about 500 meters in the pitch-dark tunnel (if you don’t have claustrophobia), you come out into the open area.. This is the place where Jews were executed or shot with a gun in the narrow tree, and the representative statue.
The shaving room, which was built as a show in the camp and is the only clean place, is heartbreaking.. Unfortunately, no prisoners could use this place, which was built to show those who came to inspect that the conditions were good.. Moreover, those who came to inspect did not even turn the tap and check whether the water is flowing! If they did, they could face the fact that even the water connection was not made!
The Pianist, La Vita a Bella, Schindler’s List and many more… It hurts to watch it through the cold glass, but the truth slaps you in the face. The Terezin Camp, which was hit like a blast, invites you to witness history.. Of course, if your heart can handle it!
