Terezín Memorial - Ghetto Museum

Be picked up at your hotel in Prague and travel to Terezín for a half-day trip of the town. Meet your guide in Terezín and visit some of the town’s historic locations. The small fortess was built-in the 18th century by Emperor Joseph II. During WWII the fortress served as a Gestapo Police prison and Jewish ghetto and concentration camp. Visit the small fortress and the Ghetto Museum and learn more about the town’s history. The Ghetto Museum opened in 1994 and is home to a permanent exhibition devoted to the history of the political prison and the persecution of the Czech nation under the Nazi regime.

With an expert guide you’ll visit the Terezin Memorial built in memory of the victims of Nazi political and racial persecution during World War II. This is the only such site of its kind in the Czech Republic. You’ll also visit the Small Fortress which served as a prison for the Prague Gestapo. As you explore the site, you’ll learn about the persecution of the Czech nation by the Nazi regime and the fates of Czech prisoners transferred to other concentration camps within Nazi Germany’s Third Reich. Lastly, you’ll see the Ghetto Museum, which was opened in 1991 in the building that housed the former Terezín School. The Museum’s exhibits were arranged with the assistance of former prisoners of the Terezín Ghetto.

Join a 6-hour excursion from Prague to the Terezin Memorial. Visit the site used by the Nazis as a combination ghetto and concentration camp during WWII. Learn about this tragic chapter in the history of the town and the catastrophic fate of many thousands of innocent victims. Explore the entire complex of the former Nazi concentration camp with your guide. Hear narration that includes authentic personal memories, chilling experiences, and episodes from Terezin’s grim history. Learn how people lived, suffered, survived, and died at Terezin. Hear how some of the prisoners managed to maintain their faith, optimism, and dignity.

Gain entry to 3 of the main historical sites of the Terezin Memorial and learn about the historical events which took place here during WWII and the people who were affected. Visit the Small Fortress, where a guided tour is included, and the Main Fortress - the ghetto - at your own pace (no guiding service is provided there). Start the tour at the Small Fortress outside of the ticket office where you meet your tour guide. From 1940 to 1945 the Small Fortress served as the prison of the Prague Gestapo. Visit the permanent exhibition that is devoted to the history of the political prison; it bears witness to the persecution of the Czech nation under the Nazi regime during the Second World War and records the fates of Czech prisoners transferred to other concentration camps within the Nazi German Reich. Afterwards, make your own way to the former Terezin Ghetto where the Ghetto Museum, Magdeburg Barracks, prayer room and crematorium are located. You will not be needing a guide there so you will continue on your own. The Ghetto Museum is located in the former municipal school and you will see there the Permanent exhibition: Terezín in the Final Solution, 1941-1945. In addition to this documentary exhibition, there is also a Memorial Hall of the Terezín Ghetto’s Children, devoted to its youngest victims, plus a selection from the world-famous drawings made by children from the Ghetto. The Magdeburg Barracks was established in Terezín on November 24, 1941. After the Nazi occupation of the Czech lands, the Magdeburg Barracks played a particularly important role in the Ghetto. The Barracks housed the offices of the different departments of the Ghetto’s so-called Jewish self-administration, as well as flats of some of the Ghetto’s leading officeholders. The Magdeburg Barracks were though also known as a venue of major cultural events, divine services, lectures, and meetings. The Crematorium, Terezín Jewish Cemetery, and Columbarium are located approximately 0,5 kilometers by walk from the Terezin Ghetto and 1,5 kimoteres from the Small Fortress. If you travel to Terezin by bus you find two bus stops there - one in the former ghetto (on the square) and one in front of the Small Fortress. If you travel by car, there is a parking lot in front of the Small Fortress and in the ghetto you can park on the square (free of charge). Make sure that you have enough time for your visit - the guided tour in the Small Fortress takes approx. 1 hour, however, there are also some other places which you can see there after the tour, so it is best to have at least 1,5 hours for the Small Fortress and other at least 2 hours for the visit of the former ghetto.

A dark and tragic place in the history of Europe, scene of the extermination of many thousands of innocent victims. A reminder of the horrors of the Second World War – this is Terezin, one of the Nazi concentration camps. Our guide will show you the area of the concentration camp and you will hear authentic recollections of former inmates. Visits to this place serve as a stark warning to prevent the recurrance of similar horrors in future.

Terezin was a military fortress built in the 18th century was converted into a concentration camp during World War II. The part called „Big Fortress“ became a ghetto-concentration camp for Jews, whereas the „Small Fortress“ was used as a Gestapo police prison. Terezin was not only a place of suffering but also a place of courage, self–sacrifice and the never ending struggle to save those who were destined to be victims of the Holocaust. What you will see? The Small Fortress Since June 1940 the Small Fortress served as a Gestapo prison because the main Gestapo prison in Prague started to be overcrowded. The prison existed until the 8th of May 1945 and during the 5 years of its existence approximately 35 000 prisoners went through its gates. They were mostly political prisoners and prisoners of war, as well as Jews, Roma, handicapped and regular criminals. Our private guide will show you the entire prison. We will start at the administrative court where prisoners arrived, see the office of the commander, then we will walk through the men’s section of the prison where we will see the mass cells, Jewish cell and the solitary cells. We will walk through the wall tunnels, see the shooting range and the fourth courtyard of the prison with bigger mass cells later built by the Nazis due to lack of space in the prison. We will also watch a short 10 min propaganda movie made by the Nazis for the International Red Cross. The Big Fortress The Big Fortress is located approximately 1 mile away from the smaller fortress and since November 24 it served as a Ghetto for Jews. During 3,5 years of its existence around 155 000 jews passed through its gates. 63 transport left Terezin for the extermination camps in Poland, carrying 87 000 prisoners. Only 3600 of them survived the war. Approximately 35 000 people died in the Ghetto itself, mostly from diseases and lack of nutrition. Visit with our private guide the Museum of the Ghetto located in the former barracks for boys. There we will learn about the history of Holocaust and the life in the Ghetto. The entire ground floor section of the museum is dedicated to the children that lived and perished in Terezin. The last section of the museum is focused on the extermination camps. Afterwards we will visit the hidden chapel. The hidden synagogue in Terezin was one of six such hidden synagogues in Terezin. The one we will visit is hidden in a storage room because any signs of Jewish religion were banned by the Nazis. We will then continue to the Magdeburg barracks where we will see what the dormitories looked like and we will learn about culture in the Ghetto. Many of the Jewish prisoners were accomplished artists. At the end of the tour our private guide will take you to the Krematorium which is located outside of Terezin’s walls. It was built in 1942 and the victim’s bodies were cremated there. Next to the Krematorium lies a mass graveyard.

Only in the recent past has Terezin been known as a tragic symbol of detractors, dissidents and opposite to the Nazi regime. The Mission of the Terezin Memorial - the only institution of its class in the Czech Republic - is to commemorate the victims of Nazi political and racial persecution during the occupation of Czech lands in World War II. The memorial promotes the museum, research and educational activities, and visits to commemorative sites related to the pain and death of thousands of victims of war. Although the fortress was founded as very modern at the end of the 18th century, its function has changed over the years. Orientative program: The Telinein excursion itinerary will begin at the meeting point at 9:00 in the morning. The first trip will last almost an hour until you reach the main fortress. To better understand Terezín, already during the journey, historical and technical details will be informed that will then be related to what happened there. When we leave Prague we will pass through the monument to the actors of the ** Anthropoid Operation **. We will see the main strength that is a city. The entire city was the Jewish ghetto. In the cemetery complex you will listen to figures, motives and methods. We will enter a museum to know of names, facts and ways. Then we will continue to the national cemetery while the guide will explain the differences between the ** Ghetto ** and the field, then we will visit the ** concentration camp ** following the same route as the prisoners followed, starting in the administrative courtyard. After the ** "Arbeit Macht Frei", ** we will reach the area for prisoners. We will pass through the Casamatas de la Fortaleza and we will reach the shooting field to go to a part of the residential area.

Terezin was a concentration camp about 1 hour north of Prague in the Czech Republic during World War II. By 1940 Nazi Germany had assigned the Gestapo to turn Terezín into a Jewish ghetto and concentration camp. It held primarily Jews from Czechoslovakia, as well as tens of thousands of Jews deported chiefly from Germany and Austria, as well as hundreds from the Netherlands and Denmark. More than 150,000 Jews were sent there, including 15,000 children. Later, most of these people have been sent by rail transports to their deaths at Treblinka and Auschwitz extermination camps in occupied Poland. This visit is essential to understanding the complicated history that unfolded here in 1941, when the region’s Jewish communities were deported through Terezin to death camps. It is also extremely relevant to understand what happened to so many innocent people through actual artifacts, children’s drawings, poetry, and other rare items which survived their owners to speak so eloquently for them. Terezin was completely different psychologically and physically from any of the 632 other camps.

Explore the history of Terezin town by visiting the most interesting places. Learn about the history of the unique military fortress from the 18th century, the Ghetto Museum, the Magdeburg Barracks, the loft, the synagogue, the Small Fortress, the Terezin Memorial, and the crematorium. Start your tour at a “Retranchement 5” building where is the visitors center. Climb the walls of the Main Fortress and find hidden spots that most groups miss because they're off the beaten track. Explore the Small Fortress, which was a prison for Nazi regime opponents from 1940 to 1945 under the Prague Gestapo. See the prison cells, showers, delousing room, hospital, execution cells, and a national cemetery nearby. Visit the Terezin Memorial, the National Cemetery in front of the Small Fortress. There are about 10 thousand people buried here. In particular, there are victims from the Small Fortress, the Terezín ghetto, and the concentration camp in nearby Litoměřice. Visit the Ghetto Museum, located in the former school building in the very center of Terezin. In the ground floor there is a Memorial hall of children. The first floor exhibition covers the inception of the persecution of Protectorate Jews, their life in the ghetto, and extermination camps. Visit a small prayer room (synagogue), which served as a place of worship for Jewish prisoners during the ghetto. See the loft where people lived. Continue to the Terezín Memorial - Crematorium and Jewish Cemetery. The crematorium was built by ghetto prisoners in 1942. About 30,000 corpses were cremated here. Everything is in original condition. Finally, visit the Magdeburg Barracks, which were used as a seat of Jewish self-government during the WWII. See a replica of a prison dormitory from the ghetto period. The exhibitions on the cultural activities of involuntary inhabitants of the ghetto continue the displays at the Ghetto Museum. It may happen that we visit the objects in a different order. We will be using a minivan to get around, but expect to walk at least 2 miles. The tour starts in the morning in Prague, the journey to Terezín takes a little over an hour, we spend about 3.5-4 hours in Terezín and the return journey to Prague takes an hour again. In total the trip takes about 6 hours, but can be adjusted to your wishes if possible.

Start your tour in Prague with a hotel pickup and drive to Terezín in your own private air-conditioned car. Learn about the history of the Czech Republic from your guide/driver and what it was like during the occupation in World War II and the tragic fate of the Jews in former Czechoslovakia and Eastern Europe. Upon arriving at Terezín, first visit the Large Fortress and the Terezín Museum. Afterwards, walk through the Magdeburg Barracks, the hidden synagogue, the Jewish cemetery, the Menorah monument, and the crematorium. Last but not least, visit the Small Fortress to spend time exploring the Gestapo prison, the single and mass cells, and a secret tunnel that most visitors do not get to see – this will take place with a local tour guide who has exclusive access for your tour. Throughout your tour, listen as your local guide provides historical context, personal stories, and information about the daily lives of the prisoners, including the cultural activities and propaganda efforts organized by the Nazis to deceive the international community about the camp's true nature. After your visit, drive back to Prague to visit the Jewish Museum and be dropped back off at your starting point.