Today is a hard day. We are going to Terezin in order to visit the camp. A rainy and cold weather go for this moving day. I dread the visit because I don't know what's left of the camp. From the entrance we can feel the morbid atmosphere, it looks like a trip back in the past, in war time. I decide not to take pictures as a sign of respect. The visit is carried out by a guide from the camp. I'm learning that it's more a transit camp than a concentration camp.
On the entry of the first court is written "Arbeit macht Frei" which means "work makes you free" : it's a Nazi slogan (there is the same inscription in the camp of Auschwitz). We are visiting several rooms such as the dormitory, the bathroom, many cells... The dormitory is minimalist, there are only beds. The "bathroom" is only composed of shower bars. The water of the shower is heated by a combustion. The guide explains to us that Jewish people were the last ones to go to the shower, so most of the time they were showering with cold water. In the cells, there were many famous & unknown prisoners. There were in particular the murderer of the archduc Franz Ferdinand and Robert Desnos a french poet (there is his bust in a room). Many of them developed diseases such as tuberculosis. We keep on visiting the camp and we take an underground path in order to go in the other part of the camp. This passage was borrowed by the prisoners. At the exit of this one, the guide explains to us that some prisoners have been shot down for example. Then, we see a propaganda movie : it's quite impressing seeing what they could do in order to "brainwash" the population. Thanks to this visit I can better understand what life of Jewish people in the camp was, the way they were treated, their living conditions... I had knowledge with history class but it's so different of what we see here.
After the lunchbreak, we visit the Terezin Ghetto Museum. In this museum, we can see draws, poems, etc, made by the prisonners trying to think of anything else excepted the camp. Upstairs, we can learn more about the ghetto : it's a profound experience.
After, we are going in Lidice. It's a town in which Nazis massacred by burning the entire population. Nowadays, there is a tribute for the dead inhabitants : a statue of the children who perished during the fire. The front of the statue is a place of contemplation full of flowers, candles and fluff. Everybody is quiet in front of it.
After a difficult day, emotionally speaking, we go to the hotel. And then it's the routine again : shower, dinner, game and sleep !
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