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Talk of World War II
By New Year's Eve 1938, there was much talk of a new war outbreak. Adolf Hitler and his Nazis were in power in Germany. Earlier that year, Hitler had already taken over Austria and he was now on the move to Czechoslovakia. -
Nazi Troops Take Over Rest of Czechslovakia
On March 15, 1939, Hitler and his Nazi troops took over the rest of Czechoslovakia. Jewish people's lives were changed forever. The Nazis pronouced that Jews were evil, a bad influence, and dangerous. From then on, all Jewish families in Czechoslovakia had to live by different rules. Jewish people could only leave their house at certain hours of the day, could only shop in certain stores at certain times, they were not allowed to travel, forced to tell the Nazis about everything that they owned. -
More Restrictions and Hardships for Jews
When autumn came around, it brought many more restrictions and hardships to Jewish people. Besides not being able to go to the movie theater, the playground, the gym, or be able to hangout with whoever they please, the Nazis announced that Jewish children would no longer be able to attend school. -
Jews Were Ordered to Wear Yellow Cloth Stars in Public
In the fall of 1941, Jewish people were required to wear yellow cloth stars whenever they went out into public. On each cloth there was a yellow star of David and in the middle of the star one word: "Jude" - Jew. This was very embarrassing to all Jewish people. Some people did not obey and they did not wear the cloth when they went out, this caused the nazis to declare that Czechoslovakia must be made judenfrei which means free of jews. The Nazis wanted this to happen immediately. -
Jewish Families are Delievered their Deportation Letters
At this time during the war many Jewish families were receiving their deportation letters. This meant that they would be leaving their homes and going off to concentration camps. -
Deportation Center
When the Jews were sent to the deportation center they were only there for a short period of time. Before they knew it, they were told to pack their things and get on the train to the nearest concentration camp. For Czechoslovakia, that was Theresienstadt. -
Theresienstadt 1942
When the Jews arrived to Theresienstadt they were divided into two groups, boys and girls. This was very, very hard for all of the families because this meant that they might not see some of their loved ones again. When they were placed into their barrack, this would be essentially their home for the next two years. -
Deportation time to Auschwitz
In September of 1944, the Nazis began to realize that they were losing the war. They decided that more people would be leaving Theresienstadt and moving onto a new concentration camp Auschwitz. An estimated four million people were killed just at the Auschwitz camp, most of them were killed by gas chambers. Auschwitz is regarded as the most well known Nazi extermination center.
