These children at the Theresienstadt ghetto and camp appeared to be happy and healthy


These children at the Theresienstadt ghetto and camp appeared to be happy and healthy. But this photograph was part of an elaborate hoax perpetrated by the Nazis.

The International Red Cross inspected Theresienstadt on this day in 1944 after Denmark’s government demanded information about Danish Jews imprisoned there.

To prepare for the visit, prisoners were forced to plant flowers and install benches and a playground. The Nazis deported thousands of prisoners to Auschwitz to alleviate overcrowding.

The visitors saw well-dressed inmates, a soccer game, and musical performances in this “spa town.” Prisoners were pawns in the Nazis' choreographed show.

“If anybody would have come two weeks later, there was nothing left. The swings were gone, the playpens were gone, the rocking horses were gone, and the children were gone—all into the gas chambers," said Marianka May, a Theresienstadt survivor.

The Nazis resumed deportations after the visit. In total, two-thirds of the 140,000 Jews sent to Theresienstadt were deported; most were then killed. An additional 33,000 died in the ghetto.

Photo: International Red Cross

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