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Media Essay

Theresienstadt - Photograph

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Theresienstadt deportations children ghettos

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Children's painting showing of Jews celebrating Hannukah. [LCID: 29507] — Children's painting showing of Jews celebrating Hannukah. This painting, which was probably drawn by either Michael or Marietta Grunbaum, was made in Theresienstadt and then pasted into a scrapbook by their mother shortly after liberation. Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia, ca. 1943.
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Portrait of Ita Guttman with her twin children Rene and Renate. [LCID: 10905] — 1942 portrait of Ita Guttman with her twin children Rene and Renate. When the twins were very young, the family moved to Prague. In the fall of 1941 the Germans arrested Ita's husband, Herbert. Subsequently, the twins and their mother were deported to Theresienstadt, and from there, to Auschwitz.
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Red triangle patch worn by Czech political prisoner Karel Bruml in Theresienstadt. [LCID: n00265] — Red triangle patch worn by Czech political prisoner Karel Bruml in Theresienstadt. The letter "T" stands for "Tscheche" (Czech in German).
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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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Dutch Jews who have recently arrived in the Theresienstadt ghetto. [LCID: 61699r] — Dutch Jews who have recently arrived in the Theresienstadt ghetto. Czechoslovakia, February 1944.
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Arrival of a transport of Dutch Jews in the Theresienstadt ghetto. [LCID: 61699b] — Arrival of a transport of Dutch Jews in the Theresienstadt ghetto. Czechoslovakia, February 1944.
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A transport of Jewish prisoners marches through the snow from the Bauschovitz train station to Theresienstadt. [LCID: 69720] — A transport of Jewish prisoners forced to march through the snow from the Bauschovitz train station to Theresienstadt. Czechoslovakia, 1942.
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Prisoners wait for food rations. Theresienstadt ghetto, Czechoslovakia, between 1941 and 1945. [LCID: 41223] — Prisoners wait for food rations. Theresienstadt ghetto, Czechoslovakia, between 1941 and 1945.
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Forced laborers at work in a tailor's workshop. Theresienstadt ghetto, Czechoslovakia, between 1941 and 1945. [LCID: 40229] — Forced laborers at work in a tailor's workshop. Theresienstadt ghetto, Czechoslovakia, between 1941 and 1945.
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Women prisoners lie on thin mattresses on the floor of a barracks in the women's camp in the Theresienstadt ghetto. [LCID: 40228] — Women prisoners lie on thin mattresses on the floor of a barracks in the women's camp in the Theresienstadt ghetto. Czechoslovakia, between 1941 and 1945.
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Living quarters in the Theresienstadt ghetto. Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia, between 1941 and 1945. [LCID: 40218] — Living quarters in the Theresienstadt ghetto. Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia, between 1941 and 1945.
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Women prepare food outdoors in the Theresienstadt ghetto. [LCID: 41221] — Women prepare food outdoors in the Theresienstadt ghetto. Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia, between 1941 and 1945.
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Preparation of food in the Theresienstadt ghetto. [LCID: 40210] — Preparation of food outside a barracks in Theresienstadt. Photograph taken after liberation. Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia, June–August 1945.
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Departure of a train of German Jews being deported to Theresienstadt. [LCID: 5140] — Departure of a train of German Jews being deported to Theresienstadt. Hanau, Germany, May 30, 1942.
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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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