Drawing of a violin and sheet music behind prison bars created by Bedřich Fritta (1909–1944) in 1943 in the Theresienstadt ghetto. Fritta was a Czech Jewish artist imprisoned in Theresienstadt with his family. He was one of several artists arrested in July 1944 for smuggling artwork out of the ghetto and taken to a Gestapo prison called the Small Fortress. Later, he was deported to Auschwitz, where he died.
Item View![Photograph showing Kurt, Helene Reik's son, holding his baby Margarida, in Rio de Janeiro in 1940. [LCID: 33388]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/3a48999d-c034-4258-85ff-83a71f89e88c.jpg "Photograph showing Kurt, Helene Reik's son, holding his baby Margarida, in Rio de Janeiro in 1940. [LCID: 33388]")
Photograph showing Kurt, Helene Reik's son, holding his baby Margarida, in Rio de Janeiro in 1940.
After her deportation to the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia, Helene yearned to record what was happening to her. This photograph was sent to Helene, who used it as paper for her diary in Theresienstadt. Helene’s makeshift diary offers wistful memories of her husband and parents who died before the war, loving thoughts of her family who had left Europe in 1939, and a firsthand account of the illness and hospitalization that ultimately led to her death.
Because resources were scarce in the Theresienstadt ghetto, Helene recorded her thoughts, recollections, and diary entries in the margins and on the backs of family pictures that she had brought with her, as well as postcards and letters she received while in the ghetto.
Item View![Photograph showing Margarida, Helen Reik's granddaughter, playing on a field in Teresopolis, Brazil, in April 1940. [LCID: 33387]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/f4cd015b-bb02-4dcc-9ad8-7a5c5a07bc5d.jpg "Photograph showing Margarida, Helen Reik's granddaughter, playing on a field in Teresopolis, Brazil, in April 1940. [LCID: 33387]")
Photograph showing Margarida, Helene Reik's granddaughter, playing on a field in Teresopolis, Brazil, in April 1940.
After her deportation to the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia, Helene yearned to record what was happening to her. This photograph was sent to Helene, who used it as paper for her diary in Theresienstadt. Helene’s makeshift diary offers wistful memories of her husband and parents who died before the war, loving thoughts of her family who had left Europe in 1939, and a firsthand account of the illness and hospitalization that ultimately led to her death.
Because resources were scarce in the Theresienstadt ghetto, Helene recorded her thoughts, recollections, and diary entries in the margins and on the backs of family pictures that she had brought with her, as well as postcards and letters she received while in the ghetto.
Item View![Photograph showing Kurt, Helene Reik's son, and his wife, while on vacation in April/May 1938 in Kupari, Croatia. [LCID: 33386]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/085f2792-6544-4618-9a1b-6753141e93b4.jpg "Photograph showing Kurt, Helene Reik's son, and his wife, while on vacation in April/May 1938 in Kupari, Croatia. [LCID: 33386]")
Photograph showing Kurt, Helene Reik's son, and his wife, while on vacation in April/May 1938 in Kupari, Croatia.
After her deportation to the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia, Helene yearned to record what was happening to her. This photograph was sent to Helene, who used it as paper for her diary in Theresienstadt. Helene’s makeshift diary offers wistful memories of her husband and parents who died before the war, loving thoughts of her family who had left Europe in 1939, and a firsthand account of the illness and hospitalization that ultimately led to her death.
Because resources were scarce in the Theresienstadt ghetto, Helene recorded her thoughts, recollections, and diary entries in the margins and on the backs of family pictures that she had brought with her, as well as postcards and letters she received while in the ghetto.
Item View![Photograph taken in May 1915 of Helene Reik's children. [LCID: 33383]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/0c9c2595-1da3-48ce-ba85-787b6e900831.jpg "Photograph taken in May 1915 of Helene Reik's children. [LCID: 33383]")
Photograph taken in May 1915 of Helene Reik's children.
After her deportation to the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia, Helene yearned to record what was happening to her. This photograph was sent to Helene, who used it as paper for her diary in Theresienstadt. Helene’s makeshift diary offers wistful memories of her husband and parents who died before the war, loving thoughts of her family who had left Europe in 1939, and a firsthand account of the illness and hospitalization that ultimately led to her death.
Because resources were scarce in the Theresienstadt ghetto, Helene recorded her thoughts, recollections, and diary entries in the margins and on the backs of family pictures that she had brought with her, as well as postcards and letters she received while in the ghetto.
Item View![Photograph showing Helene Reik's family members and friends gathered in March 1941 in Brazil. [LCID: 33382]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/e09fca88-2448-4303-8927-0f0535372dde.jpeg "Photograph showing Helene Reik's family members and friends gathered in March 1941 in Brazil. [LCID: 33382]")
Photograph showing Helene Reik's family members and friends gathered in March 1941 in Brazil.
After her deportation to the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia, Helene yearned to record what was happening to her. This photograph was sent to Helene, who used it as paper for her diary in Theresienstadt. Helene’s makeshift diary offers wistful memories of her husband and parents who died before the war, loving thoughts of her family who had left Europe in 1939, and a firsthand account of the illness and hospitalization that ultimately led to her death.
Because resources were scarce in the Theresienstadt ghetto, Helene recorded her thoughts, recollections, and diary entries in the margins and on the backs of family pictures that she had brought with her, as well as postcards and letters she received while in the ghetto.
Item View![Photograph of the water tower of the Old Town Mills in Prague. [LCID: 33381]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/1aa676bf-c075-46e0-be1b-3a0e5f298adf.jpeg "Photograph of the water tower of the Old Town Mills in Prague. [LCID: 33381]")
Photograph of the water tower of the Old Town Mills in Prague.
After her deportation to the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia, Helene Reik yearned to record what was happening to her. This photograph was sent to Helene, who used it as paper for her diary in Theresienstadt. Helene’s makeshift diary offers wistful memories of her husband and parents who died before the war, loving thoughts of her family who had left Europe in 1939, and a firsthand account of the illness and hospitalization that ultimately led to her death.
Because resources were scarce in the Theresienstadt ghetto, Helene recorded her thoughts, recollections, and diary entries in the margins and on the backs of family pictures that she had brought with her, as well as postcards and letters she received while in the ghetto.
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Watercolor landscape of the Theresienstadt (Terezín) ghetto painted by prisoner Otto Samisch in 1943. Nazi German authorities sent Samisch to Theresienstadt from Prague on November 30, 1941, along with about 1,000 other Jews. He remained imprisoned in the ghetto until September 1944, when he was deported to Auschwitz. He did not survive.
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1943 portrait of Edgar Krasa drawn by Leo Haas in Theresienstadt. Haas (1901-1983) was a Czech Jewish artist who, while imprisoned in Nisko and Theresienstadt during World War II, painted portraits and produced a large volume of drawings documenting the daily life of the prisoners.
Item View![1943 painting of the Vltava River in Prague created from a photograph by Theresienstadt prisoner Bedrich Fritta. [LCID: 44154]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/b307cb0d-5b78-4bec-b802-0e8f43100ec9.jpeg "1943 painting of the Vltava River in Prague created from a photograph by Theresienstadt prisoner Bedrich Fritta. [LCID: 44154]")
Painting of the Vltava River in Prague by Bedřich Fritta, 1943. Fritta (1906–1944) was a Czech Jewish artist who painted this work and many others while he was imprisoned in the Theresienstadt (Terezín) ghetto from 1941 to 1944. He was one of five artists who were arrested in July 1944 for smuggling artwork out of the ghetto. They were sent with their families to the Small Fortress, a nearby Gestapo prison. In October 1944, Fritta was deported to Auschwitz, where he died shortly after his arrival.
Item View![Standing room ticket for an opera performed on April 21, 1945, in the Theresienstadt ghetto. [LCID: 42026]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/e5644f40-ff24-4cf5-9a3e-733a87c1436b.jpeg "Standing room ticket for an opera performed on April 21, 1945, in the Theresienstadt ghetto. [LCID: 42026]")
Standing room ticket for an opera performed on April 21, 1945, in the Theresienstadt ghetto.
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