Terezín, Velká pevnost
židovské ghetto · Pražská, 411 55 Terezín, Česká republika
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Until today I can smell the stinky mouldy millet grains

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When Marta Kottová in hindsight compares the conditions in various camps she went through during the Second World War, the one that comes out best, is the first one she experienced --Terezín. She recalled: “Whenever children at schools are asking me about hunger and what we got to eat, I always ask: ‘And which place do you have in mind?’ Because there were great differences. In Terezín we received a ration of three quarters of bread to last us three days. A song was sung on this topic. ‘For three days you receive three quarters of bread, it will last a day or maybe two.’ It meant 250 grams of bread per day. In addition to that we had lunch every day. Even though it consisted of half-rotten potatoes in their skins, that didn't matter, at least we got something. We got two or three potatoes. A bit of some kind of thickened soup. Nowadays whenever I hear, that my granddaughter is preparing millet grains, I can smell the stinky mouldy millet grains from which they made us soup. My mother used to tell me that millet grains smelled pleasantly. I can’t imagine that. But that is what we got. In the evening we had those 250 grams of bread per day. And sometimes we were also allowed to receive parcels. Whenever someone got a parcel, they didn't keep it to themselves but shared it with the people from the room they were staying in. So that is what food was like in Terezín.” Apparently Auschwitz represented the greatest difference compared to Terezín: “In Auschwitz, I never saw even a slice of bread, ever. And in Mährensdorf, that was the last camp I stayed at, I worked for 14 hours a day, it was very, very tough work in a factory, there we received 70 grams of bread per 24 hours. It was no coincidence Terezín was called ‘Spa Terezín.' Compared to all the other camps it really was a spa.” It is necessary to add to Mrs. Kottová’s testimony that the children in Terezín received better treatment than the rest of the inhabitants. Thousands of old and ill people died of hunger there.

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Marta Kottová

Marta Kottová

Marta Kottová was born February 22nd, 1929, in Černovice u Tábora to Robert and Gabriela Lašová. Her brother Viktor was six years older. They had been living in Černovice till Marta was three, then the family moved to Prague. Since she was five, Marta was an avid scout and Sokol member, and as she says, she has had a happy childhood. With love she remembers the First Republic era and President Masaryk. After the rise of Nazism, the persecution began, which Marta experienced most poignantly when she was forced to surrender her dog. Then there came the transports to Terezín. On December 1st, 1941, her brother Viktor boarded transport AK2, and half a year later, Marta and her parents followed in transport AAR. At first Marta stayed together with her mother in the Hamburg barracks, but then she was moved to a so-called children's house L410. The worst was however yet to come. On October 6th, 1944, they arrived to Auschwitz, where both Marta's parents eventually died. Before Christmas of the same year Marta got to Mährensdorf via Gross-Rosen, where she worked in a flax-processing factory and also performed jobs like opening frozen wagons with a pickaxe. After the liberation in May 1945 and her adventurous return to Prague, she was reunited with her brother Viktor under very emotional circumstances. He has miraculously survived the Nazi horrors, even though he was one of those, who were sent from Terezín to bury the men of Lidice, and thus he was to have been exterminated afterwards. Today, Marta enjoys an abundant life, she is a great-grandmother, and she visits schools, telling children about her experiences, she is also the head of the Historic Group Auschwitz. On October 28th, 2008, the President decorated her with the State Medal for Merit in the field of education.

Terezín, Velká pevnost

Available in: English | Česky | Deutsch

Terezínská Velká pevnost je součástí pevnostního komplexu, který začal v roce 1780 budovat císař Josef II. Leží na soutoku Labe a Ohře a původně měla sloužit jako obranná pevnost před vpády Prusů. Nikdy však nebyla vojensky využita. Za druhé světové války nacisté z Velké pevnosti vystěhovali civilní obyvatele a 24. listopadu 1941 zde zřídili židovské ghetto Terezín. Za čtyři roky existence tohoto sběrného a průchozího tábora se průměrný počet vězňů pohyboval kolem 30-40 tisíc. Značná přeplněnost ghetta a zoufalé životní podmínky měly za následek vysokou úmrtnost. Na konci války zde navíc vypukla epidemie skvrnitého tyfu. Koncentračním táborem Terezín prošlo celkem asi 155 tisíc lidí, z nich 118 tisíc válku nepřežilo. Osvobození Terezína se odehrálo bez bojů. Dne 1. května 1945 byla kontrola nad táborem svěřena Červenému kříži, 5. května odtud utekli poslední nacisté a 8. května přijely první sovětské jednotky.

Terezín, Velká pevnost

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