With the German invasion of Czechoslovakia, the town of Terezín underwent a dramatic change. The Small Fortress on the outskirts of the town became a prison run by the Gestapo (the Third Reich’s secret police), while the garrison town became a base for the Wehrmacht, the Nazi armed forces.

The fortress of Terezin in the north-west region of Bohemia was constructed in 18th century and named after Maria Theresa, Austro-Hungarian Empress, served as military base for soldiers. During WWI, the fortress was used as a political camp. Gavrilo Princip, who assassinated Franz Ferdinand, died there in 1918.

In October 1941, it was decided that Terezín would become a ghetto and transit camp for Czech Jews. It also served as a transit camp for Czechoslovak resistance, who waited for their final transport to Mauthausen concentration camp. Famous democrat Milada Horáková who was later executed by Communist regime, was one of the prisoners at Terezin. About 33,000 prisoners died there. The fortress consisted of a citadel, the “Small Fortress” (used as a Holocaust Museum), to the east of the Ohře River, and a walled town, the “Main Fortress”, to the west. An essential element of the tour is the Ghetto Museum, which opened in 1991 after the end of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Located in the former school, it shows what life was like in the ghetto—with objects, photographs, drawings and other artefacts to help our understanding of that terrible reality.