On March 15, 1939, German troops crossed the Czech-German border. Nazi authorities enforced severe and repressive policies against the Jew immediately. Jews were fired from their jobs and their property was confiscated. Free movement was restricted, so that by 1940, all the Jews were concentrated into cramped conditions of the newly distinguished Jewish quarters (Prague’s Jewish quarter was the former Jewish ghetto in Josefov). Jews were not allowed in cafes, theaters, and other public places; there were specially designated hours when they could shop, and only in selected shops and among a limited assortment of goods. Jews were forced to obey a curfew of eight o’clock in the evening.
Signs that read “Juden Verboten” appeared at entrances of parks and children’s playgrounds. Jewish children played instead at the Jewish cemetery in Old Town. Jewish children were expelled from all schools as of September 1940. As of September 1, 1941, all Jews were required to wear a yellow Star of David. Wearing this star exposed and singled them out, which was particularly psychologically difficult for children.
Jewish adults felt the need to maintain the continuity of education for Jewish children, and also felt the need to fill their time and distract them from the depressing effects of the persecution and chaos that surrounded them. They organized school lessons as well as sport and outdoor play in limited space. The lessons refelcted a strong orientation toward Zionism, which strengthened the children’s Jewish identities and led them to dream of Palestine (present-day Israel).
On November 24, 1941, a large series of transports sent Jews from Prague to the town of Terezin, to a newly established concentration camp. The vast majority of Czech and Moravian Jews passed through the temporary transit camp before heading “East,” for Auschwitz and other extermination camps. Although it was not typically viewed as a death camp, it was. About 25% of prisoners died as a result of hunger, infectious diseases, lack of hygiene and medicine, and other effects of the terrible living conditions.
The Nazis decided to build Terezin as a “model ghetto,” to illustrate their benevolence towards an “inferior race.” They advertised Terezin as a spa resort. In reality, the living conditions were horrible. People lived crowded together in collective dormitories set up in barrack buildings or in attics. At one point in time, 60,000 prisoners lived in a space that before the war had housed 3,000 soldiers. Nazis filmed a video which showed young people singing and dancing and chidlren drinking milk and lemonade, which served as propaganda for what they advertised as this spa resort. In reality, Terezin functioned as a pit stop before death.
Within Terezin, the Jewish self-government tried to create a separate world for children, to shelter them from the horrors of the camp. They established children’s dormitories and assigned madrichim, or teachers, for groups of about twenty to thirty children. The madrichim not only taught, but also performed theater, held concerts and lectures, and taught crafts, drawing, and singing to the children. The children even released magazines and journals on a weekly basis, which included drawings, sketches, and poetry.
All of this organized education (including crafts, drawing, singing, languages, literature, history, math, and science) as well as the theater and concerts, were originally strictly forbidden, and therefore carried out illegally. However, they were later exploited for Nazi propaganda purposes, utilized to uphold the image of Terezin as this idyllic spa.
I read about all of this at the Jewish Museum in Prague, where I saw some of the almost four and a half thousand children’s drawings from Terezin. In my last blog post, I discussed the impact of Holocaust paintings on the memory of the Holocaust. I considered the way in which art helps preserve the memory of the horrors of the Holocaust by serving as first-hand testimony to the day to day horrors of the time. I also considered the fact that art, and emotion, are universal languages.
I think that the children’s interpretations of the events around them are extremely emotional (in part because they are so clearly made by children). Just as emotional are the drawings they made of what they imagine Palestine (now Israel), which they were told was the “Promise Land,” is like. These drawings serve as authentic documentation and first-hand accounts of the tragic persecution of the Czech Jews. They also serve as a reminder of the children who might otherwise be completely forgotten.
What I did not consider in my last blog post, though, was the way that art can be used by the victims themselves as a healing tool. The children in Terezin were taught and encouraged to draw as a way to express their emotions and grapple with what was going on around them, but also simply as a pass-time, as a way to escape what was going on around them. It was used as a way to travel metaphorically to Palestine, or back home to Prague, or to any better place. It was used as a way for these kids to try to be kids, an impossible task in a concentration camp like Terezin.
Here are some of the drawings: some represent “memories from home,” some represent “ideas about Palestine (now Israel),” some represent “the transport from Prague to Terezin,” some represent “images of Terezin,” and more.
Children's Drawings from Concentration Camps
