Theresienstadt

Theresienstadt is located about 60 km north of Prague city centre and is an old German concentration camp. However, the origins of Theresienstadt date back to the late 1700s, when the Austrian Emperor Joseph II built a fort with a garrison town on either side of the Eger River and named it after his mother, the Austrian Empress Maria Theresia. During World War I, the fort was used as a prison camp for prisoners of war, and during World War II, it was used as a fortress. The Gestapo took over the fort and set up a prison. Between 1940 and 1945, the fort and the rest of the area around Theresienstadt were used as a concentration camp for more than 150,000 Jews. Among them was Sigmund Freud's sister, who died in the camp in 1942. A visit to Theresienstadt is a very special experience.