“On the evening of May 7, 1945”, wrote Jacob Jacobson, “the official announcement was received that the surrender was signed and that the war is over,” but in Theresienstadt the war had not yet ended. On May 8, Theresienstadt became a battle area of the retreating German Army. Gunfire was heard throughout the day and the night.
“Boom, boom … are these shots?“ wrote Michal Bar (Stecklmacher) in her diary.
“With gunfire lasting the whole day the ghetto waited in silence how its fate would be decided. Will it be destroyed or will it survive the end of the war? With nightfall the gunfire increased and with it the tension. Suddenly a woman called out in Yiddish: “A roite foon!” – “a red flag”!
The first Russian tank entered the camp in the evening and was welcomed with joyous cries. All those able to, ran across the formerly forbidden area, the “Aryan Street” out of town … towards the endless stream of Russian tanks, and soldiers and trucks loaded with bundles. In the streets of the ghetto, crowded with people, joyous voices were heard – the ghetto breathed freely – we succeeded to survive”!
But everything was overshadowed by the fact that so many, who had been waiting for this day, were not alive to enjoy it.
Toward War’s End
After two thirds of the ghetto prisoners had been deported in October 1944 to the Auschwitz extermination camp, two German tendencies were discernible regarding the fate of ghetto Theresienstadt. The one wanted to continue to present the ‘Jewish settlement’ as a display window for the Nazi propaganda or to use it as an alibi for war crimes; and the second wanted to liquidate it.
In the struggle between the two tendencies during the last months of the war, Himmler and Eichmann changed their minds and exchanged viewpoints and the fate of Theresienstadt became from now on a plaything between the various German forces.
From the end of 1944 Himmler attempted to establish various contacts with the Allies in the West. In January 1945 Himmler agreed to release 1,200 Jews from Theresienstadt, who were chosen by Hans Günther in Prague, who was responsible for Theresienstadt and by Karl Rahm, the commander of the camp. On February 5 , a transport with 1,200 persons left for Switzerland that arrived there safely the next day.
In February – March 1945, evidently on Eichmann’s order, the SS-man Heindl ordered to prepare sealed rooms in the entrenchment no. 18 and, in practice, to build gas chambers; at the same time it was demanded to fence off a large area at the entrenchment no. 15 that could accommodate all ghetto prisoners so as to trap them and execute them by machine guns from the walls. It was feared that there would be a general liquidation.
The Jewish Elder Benjamin Murmelstein endangered himself and went to Rahm, saying that the people refuse to dig their own graves and would probably leave Theresienstadt in spite of the dangers. Rahm was shocked, went wild, tried to make the whole issue ridiculous and said that at entrenchment 18 there will be a shelter protected from air attacks and at entrenchment 15 a poultry farm and at the same time he demanded forcefully that, when Günther comes for a visit, it is forbidden to touch the subject. These plans were not realized.
Second Visit of the International Red Cross in Theresienstadt, on April 6, 1945
Towards the end of the war, Himmler was interested to present Theresienstadt as if it would represent the conditions of Jews in all camps. On March 5, 1945
Eichmann toured the ghetto and decided that Theresienstadt could be presented one more time.
On March 21, 1945, the confirmation was received “according to an order by the Reichsführer–SS, the International Red Cross will have the opportunity to see the conditions in Theresienstadt.”
In mid-March 1945 Theresienstadt stood again before a “beautification” process, though not on the scale it had been towards the visit in 1944.
On April 6, 1945, a delegation including SS officers and representatives of the German Foreign Office arrived in Theresienstadt, with the representative of the International Red Cross in Berlin, Dr. Otto Lehner and Paul Dunant, the representative of the International Red Cross, who was appointed in Geneve especially for Theresienstadt. Eichmann accompanied the visitors and Hans Günther led them on a tour of Theresienstadt . Rudolf Weinmann, head of the Security Services of the Protectorate, was the only speaker in connection with the status of the population and concealed the number of deported prisoners.
Though the visitors this time were more curious, the German deception succeeded to mislead them . Murmelstein was not able to deny Weinmann’s words, but in his parting words to the members of the delegation he pointed out his fear regarding the fate of ‘the settlement’ in the future.
Liberation of Danish Jews on April 15, 1945
In February 1945 Count Folke Bernadotte, vice president of the Swedish Red Cross, met with Himmler and succeeded to get his agreement to get all the Scandinavian prisoners out of the concentration camp and to transfer them to the Neuengamme camp near Hamburg and later to Denmark and Sweden. Since it was not possible to bring the Danish Jews from Theresienstadt to this camp, Bernadotte forewent their liberation. The Danes decided to get the Danish Jews out of Theresienstadt themselves. Dr. Johannes Holm, head of the Health Services in the German Red
Cross, used the good services of Dr. Renault Himmler’s contact to Bernadotte. They went to Berlin and succeeded to get from the Gestapo the documents necessary for the liberation of the Danish Jews, traveled to Theresienstadt and informed the Danish Jews of their imminent liberation.
On the morning of April 15, 425 Danish Jews boarded buses of the Swedish Red Cross. The Dane’s departure symbolized the realization of the dream of all Jews in the ghetto, dreams, they had dreamed, to return home.
A special delegation initiated by Kurt Becher, came to Theresienstadt on April 16 to ensure the Jewish prisoners’ security. The delegation included Eichmann’s aides Hermann Krumey and Otto Hunsche accompanied by Dr. Rudolf (Rezsö) Kastner, representative of the Joint. At the end of the visit Krumey transmitted to the camp commander Himmler’s order regarding the surrender of Theresienstadt with no fight and asked, who would be empowered to declare the surrender of the camp. Günther said that he himself would do it and would therefore remain in Theresienstadt until the arrival of Allied Forces. Günther and evidently also Rahm did not intend to fulfill Himmler’s order or the promises given to the Red Cross.
Kastner proposed to add the representative of the Red Cross and Krumey supported the proposal.
The Death Marches Arrive in Theresienstadt in April-May 1945
Beginning on April 20, until May 6, a wave of transports with about 13,000 persons arrived in Theresienstadt, the character of the camp and its situation changed totally, conditions bordered on anarchy. In the last transports arrived prisoners who had been evacuated from concentration camps located near the front lines, before Allied Forces could reach them. The evacuees brought with them to the ghetto despair and diseases, during the six last weeks before liberation.
On May 2, 1945, Paul Dunant, representative of the Red Cross, came to stay in Theresienstadt, until May 10. Every day he held meetings with the Council of Elders to find solutions for immediate problems and for preparation towards liberation and announced to them that 1,000 people, seriously sick with typhus from the “Small Fortress” would be brought to hospitals in Theresienstadt; and a team of physicians, a bacteriologist and medications would be put at their disposal.
In May 1945 the camp commander Obersturmführer Karl Rahm left Theresienstadt. On May 6, 1945, news arrived in Theresienstadt about battles with the SS in Prague.
On May 8, 1945 Germany surrendered. In the evening hours Theresienstadt was liberated by Soviet soldiers.
A medical unit of the Red Army with medical equipment joined the medical team from Prague to deal with the epidemic engulfing thousands of typhus patients that abated only on June 13, 1945. 920 people and about 12 physicians and nurses paid with their lives.
On May 10, 1945, Dunant transferred the command of the camp to the Russian officer, Major Kuzmin and left Theresienstadt.
On May 14, 1945, eng. George Vogel was appointed as manager of the camp, by order of the Czechoslovak sovereign government and the orderly repatriation of people to their homelands or their migration to other countries began.
On liberation day remained in Theresienstadt:
a. Of those who arrived to Theresienstadt by mid-April 1945 :
7,503 – survivors from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
5,300 – survivors from Germany
1,311 – survivors from Austria
1,295 – survivors from Holland
1,396 – survivors from Slovakia
1,168 – survivors from Hungary
17,973 – survivors in total
b. 11,765 – refugees from concentration camps who had arrived in Theresienstadt between April 20, and May 6, 1945
And in total, 29,738 survivors remained in the ghetto, on liberation day.
In this account are not included: 1,200 – 1,400 refugees from concentration camps who arrived in Theresienstadt on May 6, 1945; 1,200 who left on February 5, 1945 for Switzerland and 425 who left on April 15, 1945 for Denmark.
Out of 157,153 Jews deported to Theresienstadt: 35,409 perished in the ghetto; 88,129 were deported for extermination and out of these 4,136 survived.
