Terezin
We spent the day Friday in Terezin. During WWII, the entire town of Terezin was converted into a ghetto by the Nazis for Jews from all over Europe. The town was built as a garrison and prison in the 1780s, making it a pretty ghastly town with it’s battlements and fortifications to begin with. Prior to it falling under Nazi control, the town housed around 3,500 people. At it’s peak, there were over 155,000 people packed into the town, leaving roughly about 1.5sq/m of living space per person in 1942. At that time, roughly 105,000 of those were children. The town was mainly used as a transfer station for Jews on their way to much worse places (Auschwitz, for example). Only about 3,000 of the people who passed through Terezin survived the war.
We toured a museum which had some amazing artwork created by the Jews who were held captive there. The most heart-wrenching were the pictures created by the children who were encamped in Terezin. Surprisingly enough, there was a pretty vibrant music and art culture which sprung from Terezin and survived past the end of the war. There is also a crematorium which was used to dispose of the massive number of people who died in the camp. Understandably, I didn’t take a lot of pictures.
Last Day in Prague
Today was our last day in Prague. It wasn’t a pretty day, but we did get to wander through various parts of the city that we hadn’t seen. We found our way up to the Effle tower replica, which is constructed at the same hight as the the original in Paris. Honestly, it’s quite ugly, but the view of the city was great! We also got to spend the afternoon in the Cafe Louvre, which is somewhat well known because Franz Kafka used to frequent it. It was beautiful and the hot chocolate was amazing. It is hard to describe what it is like just wondering the streets, just enjoying being in its presence. Today was one of the best days we’ve had yet. I think that was just because I got to spend time with my friends, taking in a much of this beautiful city before we have to leave tomorrow.
Pictures
The random pictures below are just a few that I’ve taken toward the end of this week that I hadn’t posted yet. More will follow via Picasa when I get home.
