In the 9th Century the first building that is now
known as the Melnick Castle was built. It was at that time made of wood.
Eventually the wood structure was replaced with stone. In the 16th
century the first major renovation occurred. Prior to this renovation the
castle only had 2 wings. During the renovation an additional two wings were
built. The castle is both a museum and the private residence of the Lobkowicz
family(current owner of the castle). The furniture within the castle is Baroque.
The town was a dowry town for the Queens of Bohemia.
During the Communist Regime in 1948 the family was
pushed out of their home along with many nobles and moved to Switzerland. During this time the Communist Regime took
over the castles of nobles and dispersed personal belongings to parts unknown.
During this time many of the castles were used as storage units, army weaponry
storehouses, and agricultural storehouses.
Many castles suffered significant and serious damage during this time. This one was damaged but not significantly. After the Velvet Revolution the nobles returned and fought to retrieve
their land, homes, and belongings. The Lobkowicz family who own the Melnick
castle had kept meticulous records of their belongings and were able to
retrieve many of their belongings, which was not the case for many nobles at
the time.
The view from the castle is
phenomenal. On one side if you look out the windows you see the hills and border into Germany. Lunch today was at the Castle Restaurant . We had a gorgeous view of the vineyards and the rivers that intersect near Melnick. During our stay there was also a folklore festival occurring. Some of us got to see the performers in native costume sing and perform in the Town Square.
This posting is probably the hardest to write and not
necessarily because of sadness due to this being our last day. Today in addition to visiting the Melnik
Castle we visited Terezin. Despite being a resident of the DMV for almost 15
years I have never been to the Holocaust Museum. It has always been a visit
that I just haven’t mustered the strength or fortitude to make. This was so much
harder when you think about the fact that there were actually people here who
were mass murdered by gunpoint, through starvation, poor hygiene, or hanging for not other reason than their ethnic background.
Terezin was originally built as an Austrian military
fortress. Construction began in 1780 and was completed in 1784. Approximately
12000 handworkers were used in construction. Two hundred million bricks were
used. Once it was completed it was realized that the fortress could not
actually be used for its intended purpose. It was built with shooting garrisons.
There is an 8 mile long water moat around the fortress. There are also 18 miles
of underground corridors.
The shooting range was originally built as a practice
field but during Nazi occupation it became a place for executions until the regime
decided that “ For a Jew its not
necessary to waste a bullet”. At this juncture they decided to build gallows and just hang people. There is no
clear record of how many people died here as the Germans destroyed the written
records three days before the war ended. There were no gas chambers at this
location. It mainly served as a transportation camp.
In June 1940 the Nazis established
a big political camp here. In November 1941 they started using the big
fortress. In 1942 another camp was formed the Jewish Ghetto, which was
initially for Czech Jews. Upon arrival at Terezin the first stop was the
Registration office in which all belongings were taken and you were given a
prison uniform. Following registration prisoners were taken to the
prisoners courtyard. To get to the gate
you passed under a banner that read Arbeit Macht Frei which loosely translates
as Work makes freedom. This was a false propaganda statement meant to infer
that if prisoners worked hard they would eventually be released. This phrase was on gates in almost every
camp.
From 1940-1945 more than 1500 Jews were imprisoned here. Five hundred
were tortured to death while many more perished after deportation. Cells in the
camp were primitive with numbered three level bunk beds. The cells were
originally intended to house 40 people by the end of the war there were at least
100 people in the cells. Each cell had a wash bowl but no tap leading to a lot
of hygiene problems and disease.
In
Block B the isolation cells were housed. These cells had no light at all just
cold damp white walls in a very small claustrophobic space. The Nazis used these cells as
death cells. The only way out of this place was execution.
Terezin
was used by the Germans as a show place. For me it was reminiscent of the
experience of African American slaves as happy dancing illiterates. Show homes
in which the Commanders of the Camp lived were opulent multi-storied homes strategically
placed near the front gates. There were rooms built to show that things weren’t
so bad, such as a washroom that contained 20-30 washbasins and taps. This room
was only used when tours such as the International Red Cross Committee came to
check conditions. All other times this room was locked. The commander of
Terezin wanted to put on a good face so the tour of the camp was very well
choreographed. A soccer match was set up as well as an orchestral performance
taking advantage of the skills of the people and making it appear that the
people were content to be at Terezin. The purpose of this dog and pony show was
to make any visitors to the camps believe that the conditions were not
deplorable. Residents of the camp were well trained and coached as to what
their answers should be when the questions came at the end of the visit in
addition to how they should behave around these visitors. There was even a
propaganda video commissioned to show the “happy” Jews.
On
March 8, 1944 the deadliest night during the war on the Jewish holiday of Purim
3792 men women and children were murdered in the gas chamber. The families
unlike normal policy weren’t separated which was probably the initial clue that
something was wrong and they were transported to their deaths. The
hardest room for me as an educator was the room which listed the names of all
the children. To see the drawings and poems that they wrote expressing their lack of understanding of this strange, scary and dirty place was heart wrenching.
Statistics based on what records do exist
10500 children under the age of 15
400
died in Terezin
7500 died in
extermination camps
155,000 men, women and children
came through Terezin
35000 died in
Terezin
8300 died after
deportation to extermination camps in the East and on death marches
There is one recorded successful escape from the camp.
Others who tried to escape were severely punished. After one failed escape attempt other
prisoners were required to stone the attempted escapees to death. Let this be a
lesson to anyone else who thinks that escape is an option. Remind you of anything?
Our farewell dinner was held at the The Folklore Garden . It was a rousing
and fun time to watch Hungarian dancers and singers in traditional clothing. Some of us even joined
the dancers during audience participation songs and actually danced. The dinner
was served family style at for lack of a better description picnic tables.
There were people from Britain, USA, Brazil, Denmark, Canada and at least two
other countries I am drawing a blank on right now. In the process of talking to
the Canadian visitors, as we didn’t all fit at one table, we were asked to sing a
selection at the end of the evening. We sang Cried and I Cried and thus the
curtain closes on this European excursion. We leave Europe at 10:15 tomorrow
morning. Pray for our safe travel. We love you all and thank you for your
prayers as we embarked on this journey.
NiYa
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