Visiting Terezin Concentration Camp: The complete guide

Visiting Terezin Memorial also reinforces the compelling message, ’’Never again.’’ Sadly some are quick to forget – or even deny – all of this. I think humanity is far better equipped to go forward having dealt with the harsh lessons of the past. And I believe that most people should visit Terezin or one of the other Nazi camps at least once in their lives.

Terezin History – Theresienstadt Before World War Two

The fortress of Theresienstadt – named after Empress Maria Theresa – was built between 1780 and 1790 to protect Bohemia from possible Prussian attack.

Bohemia was part of the Austrian Empire under the Habsburgs, and remained so until 1918.

There are two fortresses – the Small Fortress and the much larger fortress around the adjacent town.

Theresienstadt was never attacked, and during World War I was used as a prison. The most famous inmate was Gavrilo Princip, the assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie.

The Theresienstadt Ghetto – Terezin Concentration Camp History

The Nazis decided to use Theresienstadt as a holding or transit camp for Czech and other European Jews who were to be sent on to the extermination camps in Poland.

Terezin / Theresienstadt is sometimes referred to as a concentration camp, sometimes as a ghetto. It was both. Neither term is wrong.

The Jewish ghettoes in Poland (Krakow, Lodz, Warsaw and many others) fulfilled a similar purpose to Terezin. They were essentially staging posts en route to the death camps.

 As it was a holding camp, the Nazis decided to use Terezin for propaganda purposes. They deceived the outside world by showing a seemingly healthy community. The truth was that over 30,000 people died within the walls of Terezin Ghetto in appalling conditions.

A further 88,000 were sent to the death camps where the vast majority were murdered in the gas chambers.

Things To See When Visiting Terezin Concentration Camp

National Cemetery

The bus from Prague to Terezin Concentration Camp passes the walls of the Small Fortress as it approaches the town. It then stops a few minutes’ walk past the National Cemetery, which you also see on your right as you head towards the town.

The most obvious landmark is the large cross, which is at the far end of the Cemetery from the Small Fortress. It’s much taller than the Star of David at the far end of the Cemetery, next to the wall of the Fortress.

The remains of around 10,000 victims of the Nazis at Terezin are interred in the Cemetery. There are 2,386 individual graves, and the remaining 7,000 and more victims are buried in mass graves.

Small Fortress – Terezin Concentration Camp Proper

The Small Fortress is the site of the infamous Theresienstadt Ghetto, where Jews and other prisoners were confined in appalling conditions for over three and a half years.

They were crammed into freezing dormitories with bunk beds, very little in the way of sanitation, and desperately inadequate food rations.

Terezin Arbeit Macht Frei Sign

This sign – which translates as ‘Work Makes You Free’ – is a feature of several Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz I, Dachau and Mauthausen. It’s completely cynical, and it wouldn’t have taken prisoners long to realise these words were there to give false hope.

It’s one of the most recognizable images of Terezin, and guided tours of Terezin head straight there from the starting point. The archway bearing the inscription is just to the left of the entrance, a 50-metre walk away past some outbuildings.

I was shocked at the conduct of some of my fellow visitors at this location. Photographing the sign is fine. But selfies with broad cheesy grins and the sign above?  This would be fine if the backdrop were Big Ben or the Eiffel Tower. But not somewhere like Terezin, a sombre place where tens of thousands were murdered. 

Barber Shop

The notorious ‘barber shop’ in the courtyard to the left of the arch and sign was built by the Nazis in readiness for one of the propaganda films made in Terezin.

There must be around fifteen sinks with mirrors above on each side of the room. All to show the supposedly thriving Jewish town portrayed in these hideous films.

Solitary Confinement Cells

One of the buildings off the courtyard contains around 20 punishment cells intended for the solitary confinement of prisoners.

They are extremely grim, small spaces with tiny windows and thick, heavy doors.

On the guided tour just ahead of me, the guide took the party of 15-20 visitors inside one of the cells and closed the door behind him. They were expecting it, but all gasped audibly as he shut the door.

Gavrilo Princip’s Cell

The last cell you reach – cell number 1 – once held Gavrilo Princip, the assassin of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The murder of the heir to the Habsburg Imperial throne may not have directly caused the outbreak of World War I – the network of alliances and obligations among European powers did more, arguably.  However, the attack on Franz Ferdinand certainly lit the tinderbox: within a few weeks of Princip’s act, Europe was at war.

Princip was 19 years old when he killed Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, so he was spared the death penalty. He was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment at Theresienstadt, but died within four years. He had contracted tuberculosis, had to have an arm amputated, and was unable to survive the brutal prison conditions.

Dormitories

There are several dormitories around the first courtyard. They are sparsely furnished, with bunk beds three high and a few tables and chairs.

The dormitories wouldn’t have looked anything like this. Every bed would have been packed with the possessions of the prisoners, who lived every day with the danger of deportation to the death camps forever looming.

Milada Horakova Exhibition

A few rooms at Terezin are devoted to Milada Horakova, who has come to be recognized as a Czech national heroine.

She spoke out against the early Czechoslovakian Communist regime, and was later tried and executed on trumped-up charges.

Her story deserves to be more widely known. There is an English-language movie, Milada, starring Ayelet Zurer, made in 2017.

Unfortunately the exhibition is in Czech only – hopefully English and German translations will eventually be added.

Fortress Tunnel

Just after the first main courtyard, a 500-metre-long tunnel leads you through the ramparts to the Execution Ground. The sign says that it’s 500 metres long, but it felt like considerably more.

The dimly-lit brick tunnel wasn’t used during the time of the Ghetto, but the walk through it is a thoroughly oppressive experience. I’m 6’3” (1. 9 metres) tall and I had to bend my head forward most of the way around. Claustrophobes would find it very difficult.

Execution Grounds

Prisoners were taken to a distant corner of the Small Fortress to be executed. There is a small memorial against the wall in front of which the condemned would have stood.

There is also a gallows from which two prisoners could be hanged at a time.

Swimming Pool

While the Jewish prisoners toiled suffered in appalling conditions, the Nazis and their families lived it up as if nothing was happening. During the warmer months they bathed in the (long empty) swimming pool a short walk from the execution ground.

They would also have been able to hear the gunshots of the firing squads just the other side of the ramparts.

Cinema

I strongly suggest stopping at the Cinema (Kino, stop 23 on the suggested route) to watch the film showing the Nazis’ sickening propaganda clips used to deceive the outside world.

I had seen some of the clips previously, but was still staggered at the cynicism of the Nazis. They had forced Kurt Gerron, a prominent Jewish German actor and director, to work on a series of films. One of them shows groups of people wearing yellow stars walking somewhere. It turns out that they are all heading to… a football match. In a concentration camp.

There are also scenes of women tending to vegetables growing in allotments planted between the ramparts of the fortress. The prisoners would have been fed scraps and peelings at best.

It’s sickening and perverse, and there is plenty more to follow as you leave the Small Fortress and make your way into the town of Terezin.

Terezin Ghetto Museum

The excellent Ghetto Museum in Terezin town centre focuses on the life of children in the Ghetto, and also the vibrant cultural life there that persisted under the constant threat of liquidation.

The ground floor is devoted to the memory of 15,000 children who passed through Terezin, mostly perishing in the death camps afterwards. There are many poignant paintings and drawings by children, recalling better times when they were still free.

A poem by František Bass, who was later murdered at Auschwitz at the age of 14, hit me particularly hard. They are among the most powerful – and upsetting – words I have ever read. The second part of it reads:

‘’A little boy, a sweet boy,

Like that growing blossom,

When that blossom comes to bloom

The little boy will be no more.’’

The exhibition upstairs focuses on life in the Terezin Ghetto, with many preserved posters of concerts and performers. There is also recorded testimony by survivors of Terezin.

Former Magdeburg Barracks Museum

The Magdeburg Barracks on Tyrsova Street was the venue for meetings of the Theresienstadt Judenrat. This Jewish council body was ostensibly the Ghetto administration.

However in reality they had no powers – they were forced to do whatever the Nazis instructed them.

The first floor hosts a fascinating exhibition, Art Against Death. It includes many harrowing artworks, and some laced with black humour and irony.

Recreated Dormitory

The first room you reach upstairs in the Barracks is the re-created Terezin concentration camp dormitory.

The full re-creation hits home more forcefully than the empty dormitories of the Small Fortress. In this room, you see all the trappings of the prisoners’ lives – their clothes with the yellow Star of David sewn on, piles of suitcases with names and addresses painted on, and the occasional book or other personal possession.

Everyone lived in close proximity to each other, so diseases such as typhus would have been rampant.

Exhibition on The Arts In Terezin

The Art Against Death exhibition is outstanding. It documents the various facets of cultural life in Terezin, with sections on painting, portraiture, literature, music and theatre.

The paintings depicting life in the Ghetto are haunting, black-and-white faces ground down by exhaustion, sickness, pain and starvation.

I was very pleased to see mention of Ilse Weber, a writer of children’s stories and composer of songs. Her Wiegala (Lullaby) from the 2007 album Terezin Theresienstadt by Swedish soprano Anne Sofie van Otter is breathtaking.

She volunteered to go to the gas chamber at Auschwitz with her husband and son so as not to break up the family. Her husband survived. Accounts vary in detail, but it seems that she sang this song to her song Tommy – and possibly some of her pupils – as they were ushered to their deaths.

There is also an amazing stage set, attributed to German-Jewish actor and director Kurt Gerron. Posters also recall regular revues and cabarets – it’s so hard to imagine having to perform (or watch) when you know the next morning you could be taken away and transported to your death.

Terezin Railway Sidings

Several of the smaller Terezin Memorial sites are clustered together at the southern end of the garrison town.

The first one you reach the section of railway siding from which Ghetto residents / prisoners were deported to the death camps. There’s a sign on one of the rampart walls listing the onward destinations – Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Majdanek, Belzec and others in Poland and beyond.

Ceremonial Chambers and Central Morgue

The dead of the Terezin Ghetto were brought to chambers within the ramparts of the Main Fortress. This is where rites were read for the deceased, and there is also an ornate funeral carriage. In the final chamber there is a collection of glass jars (pictured) with soil from the extermination camps where the prisoners of Terezin were sent to be murdered.

Terezin Columbarium

The columbarium is a few metres across the street from the Ceremonial chambers. This is where urns containing the ashes of the dead were stored – until they were thrown away to hide evidence of their crimes.

The rooms have several memorials paying tribute to the thousands of souls who died in Terezin and the death camps.

Terezin Jewish Cemetery

The furthest sites connected with the Terezin concentration camp are the Jewish Cemetery and Crematorium.

Around 9,000 victims of the Nazis lie in the Cemetery. These include prisoners in the Ghetto, the Gestapo police prison and those who perished in the harsh conditions of the Litoměřice forced labour camp nearby.

Terezin Crematorium

The Nazis built the crematorium adjacent to the Jewish Cemetery in 1942, installing four furnaces to keep up with the high mortality rate in the Ghetto.

It’s estimated that around 30,000 bodies were cremated there over the three years until the liberation of the camp in May 1945.

Again, it’s a very confronting place to visit. Some of the furnace sliders are decorated with floral wreaths in  memory of the thousands of victims.

Jewish Prayer Room And Attic

This place is very easy to miss as the sign outside is very small. However it’s very much worth the visit. It’s next to the restaurant U Tří Dědků at Dlouha 17 – I’ve photographed the entrance (see below) to help you find it.

When you find it, head through the first door, then a second glass door ten metres further on, past the office on your right. Then head across the courtyard to the right-hand corner.

The prayer room is on the ground floor with a sign outside stating the maximum capacity is ten people. Just to the right of that, a narrow metal staircase leads to the Attic, whose maximum capacity is ten people.

Where Is Terezin Concentration Camp?

Terezin is 65 km (40 miles) north of Prague in Central Bohemia, in the west of the Czech Republic.

It is also 4 km (2.5 miles south of the town of Litoměřice, which lies just across the River Elbe from there.

Both of these places are among the best day trips from Prague, within an hour of the capital by bus.

Getting To Terezin From Prague

If you’re travelling independently as I did, then the only realistic public transport option is the bus from Prague to Terezin. You can get to within a couple of miles of Terezin by train, but the journey is far too time-consuming and convoluted so don’t bother.

The Prague to Terezin bus – service number 413 – leaves from Praha-Letňany bus station. This station is adjacent to Letňany Metro station, the northern terminus of Metro line C (the red line on the maps). The final destination of the bus is Litoměřice bus station (Litoměřice aut nadr on timetables). The journey takes an hour – give or take a few minutes.

After leaving the Metro train, look for the first sign below – for the bus to Litoměřice which you can reach via station exit E5. It leaves from Stand L. Soon afterwards you see the second sign pictured below – which mentions Terezin.

The bus passes close to the Small Fortress (Mala Pevnost) before entering the town. The nearest bus stop is Terezin U Pamatniku (Terezin Memorial). The small bell next to the stop name on the bus screen signifies that it’s a request stop (zastavka na znameni) so don’t forget to press the red stop button before the stop.

See the image of the stop below – it’s very close to some sort of industrial mill next to the river. When you alight, turn back, it’s just over five minutes’ walk to the Small Fortress.

Alternatively, you can begin your exploration of Terezin in the town centre. The bus stops in the main square, Náměstí CSA, a two-minute walk from the Ghetto Museum. The bus always stops there – you don’t need to request it.

How Long Do You Need To Visit Terezin

How much time you need to see Terezin depends on how much you want to see. I wanted to visit the outlying Terezin sites as well as the main three (Small Fortress, Ghetto Museum and Magdeburg Barracks). After arriving I walked everywhere – probably around 4 miles (6 km) in total – and visited everywhere listed above in six hours.

If you’re visiting Terezin independently I suggest seeing the Small Fortress, Ghetto Museum and Magdeburg Barracks at the bare minimum.  The Small Fortress – the site of the Theresienstadt Ghetto and concentration camp – takes around two hours to see, including the compelling ten-minute film. Allow a total of four hours to see these three main sights.

Terezin Concentration Camp Tickets

There are two types of ticket for Terezin – combination or single.

If you are planning to visit several Terezin sites as I did, then you need to buy the combination ticket. At the time of writing it costs 280 CZK, and covers the Small Fortress, Ghetto Museum and Magdeburg Barracks. The other smaller Terezin locations (Crematorium, Columbarium, etc) are also covered.

The single ticket costs 230 CZK for adults and covers admission to either the Small Fortress or Ghetto Museum together with Magdeburg Barracks. 

Terezin Concentration Camp Visiting Hours

The Small Fortress, Museum and associated Terezin sites are open from 9 am to 6 pm during the summer months (April to October).

They are open between 9 am and 4.30 pm during the winter months (November through March).

Some of the smaller sites keep slightly different hours. For example, the Crematorium is closed on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. Check the Terezin Memorial webpage for individual site times.

Terezin Day Trip From Prague Tour

A Terezin tour from Prague is a very popular option among visitors. The whole exercise is so much easier when you have hotel pickup, get driven around from place to place, and get an informative guided tour into the bargain.

When I recently visited Terezin, I spent the day walking around by myself, and kept running into a small group of Spanish visitors who were being taken from site to site by bus. It’s a great way of doing things, especially if a 4-mile walk may prove challenging.

Bear in mind that Terezin can get hot in summer and there’s not much shade. I visited in the winter with snow and lots of ice on the ground, which made getting around a little slower than normal.

Visiting Terezin is also exhausting emotionally, so the comfort of being driven around would also make the day a little easier for some.

There is also the possibility of a smaller private tour of Terezin from Prague, for a maximum of up to three people.

Terezin Guided Tour Or Self-Guided Tour?

A guided tour of the Terezin concentration camp (Small Fortress) and Ghetto is included within the price of your ticket. However you do need to book your tour a day in advance.

Tours run in Czech, English, German, Italian and Spanish. You can book your slot by going to the Terezin website reservations page.

I opted to go it alone, largely because I had read up on the Ghetto history and like to go at my own pace.

That said, I’ve heard good things about the guides from several friends who have also visited Terezin. I overheard one English-speaking guide say that his grandfather was an inmate at Terezin, so he would have offered a wealth of insight to anyone in his tour group.

Hotels Near Terezin

There are only a couple of hotels in Terezin. Hotel Memorial gets the better reviews of the two, and is on the main square, very close to the Ghetto Museum.

Parkhotel Terezin is a three-minute walk from the main square. I can only vouch for their coffee, which probably staved off a brush with hypothermia on a bitterly cold day!

If you opt to stay in the area I’d be more inclined to stay in Litoměřice, a gorgeous Baroque town a world away from the grimness of Terezin. We stayed there at the Hotel Apollon, five minutes’ walk from the town train station and the beautiful main square.

We also heard many good things about Penzion Dubina, in a pretty side street near the Cathedral.

Visiting Terezin Concentration Camp – Final Words

As I mentioned near the beginning of the article, I think everyone should visit somewhere like Terezin at least once in their lives. 

After visiting Auschwitz concentration camp some years ago, I had subconsciously put off visiting Terezin from Prague for a long time.

Emotionally it’s very hard going, but I believe it’s our duty to bear witness to such horrors, and call out those following the same dark path the Nazis did.

Explore more of our articles on World War II here:

• Prague World War 2 Sites – 15 fascinating places to visit in and around Prague
• Heydrich Assassination Site Prague – exploring the site of one of the most audacious acts of rebellion in World War Two
• Nuremberg Nazi Sites – visiting the Nazi Rally Grounds and more
• Communist Prague – 18 amazing places to explore around the Czech capital

And take a look at some of the best day trips from Prague here:

• Karlštejn Castle – imposing behemoth of a Castle in countryside near Prague
• Křivoklát Castle – early medieval royal Castle in remote forest west of Prague
• Konopiště Castle – home to Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
• Kutna Hora Bone Church – the amazing bone art of the Sedlec Ossuary
• Things To Do In Kutna Hora – discover this stunning World Heritage town in Eastern Bohemia
• Things To Do In Cesky Krumlov – gorgeous medieval time capsule in South Bohemia
• Kokořín Castle – awesome Castle in forest north of Prague