AP+P2+2014-15+Theresienstadt+Nazi+concentration+camp

 The Nazi concentration camps were a substantial part of the Holocaust in Germany during WWII. Jews, gays, blacks, the old, and anyone that was not German or had blue eyes and blonde hair were sent to these camps to either be worked to death, or killed immediately. Although many of these camps like Auschwitz, were extermination camps containing gas chambers or other forms of mass murder, there were also camps for hard labor. Theresienstadt was “presented as a model jewish settlement for propaganda purposes,” (Vashem) in order to make the journey that these millions of people made, look easier than it actually was. This journey that the author went on, through these camps, allows the reader to be immersed in a first person account of what life was really like throughout the camps, not just the extermination camps that stories are told about, but also the smaller labor camps like this one, where many of the people went before the were shipped off to be executed. Not only was this camp used a type of front, it was also “expected that the poor conditions would hasten the deaths of many deportees, until the SS could deport the survivors to killing centers in the East,” (Theresienstadt). The first account of this from the author proves what has been speculated, for the author explains that the prisoners were worked to death, or sent through selections, which was a process in which the SS decided which prisoners looked healthy and able, and put the others in a line and sent them to be gassed right there and then. Others that were unable to work or made mistakes in carrying out their tasks, were beaten or even killed immediately. Meaning is brought to the facts that are brought forth in reports on the camps, because no longer are they just simple facts, the author has a first hand account of just how gruesome the conditions were and this enables the facts to come across in a meaningful way that now has more value to the reader than before. Although history may not be made from the text, it can be seen in a different light. One that is more personal and comes with a deeper emotional understanding and attachment to the situation than before, achieved through the personal journey the author takes the reader on.
 * Historical- Austin Athouguia **

“Theresienstadt.” //United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.// United States HolocaustMemorial Museum, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2014. “The Ghettos - Theresienstadt.” //Yad Vashem.// Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.
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A place like the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp is one of many concentration camps that had a huge impact on how modern culture functions today over racist and genocidal issues. The way that Viktor Frankl writes about the cultural impacts the camps had on people during that time gives a completely new insight that many need to have an open mind to further understand. Theresienstadt was known to be a "model-ghetto" camp where there was " an outpouring of culture under unimaginably difficult conditions, unparalleled in the Nazi camp system" (Theresienstadt). This is because Theresienstadt was a camp where thousands went to work and wait around to be transported to the extermination camps but, despite this bittersweet trait, it was still hell like the other camps.With the camp having an influence of Frankl’s perspective, he gained knowledge of how culture can affect the human mind. Hatala describes Frankl’s perspective and remarks that  "From this  perspective,  day‐to‐day  cultural  practices  or  what  is  at  stake  for  an  individual  are  essentially  choices  that  arise  from  an autonomous  center  or  an  internal  human  core" (Hatala 6). Frankl believes that despite cultural surroundings, how a human acts is his internal choice which gives his audience insight on their own self-being. The way that he uses persuasion in his writing affects the modern culture of how to deal with tragic events in a positive light. Yes, there are horrors and fears in the world but having a different perspective can completely change how culture views these and the way Frankl writes about this did indeed help culture for the better. His philosophy of logotherapy and how he used it to deal with many patients of the concentration camps affected modern society to be more realistic with other tragedies that have happened afterward in history. This shifted culture to be more positive and look at the history of this concentration camp and understand it made many people much stronger and grow from these mistakes than to just look at the negatives.
 * Cultural- Alexis Roether **

Hatala, Andrew. "Frankl & Freud: Friend or Foe? Towards Cultural & Developmental Perspectives of Theoretical Idealogies." //Physiology & Society// 3.1 (2010): 1-25. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. “Theresienstadt.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States HolocaustMemorial Museum, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.
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Throughout the Holocaust, six million people lost their lives to the atrocious measures of the Nazi machine; the injustice that took their lives was kept behind the closed curtains of the Third Reich through deception put into place by the Theresienstadt concentration camp and others like it. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “In Nazi propaganda, Theresienstadt was cynically described as a ‘spa town’ where elderly German Jews could ‘retire’ in safety. . . The ghetto was in reality a collection center for deportations to ghettos and killing centers in Nazi-occupied eastern Europe” (“Theresienstadt”). The primary purpose of the camp was to support the notion that German jews were being exploited to work in labor camps to assist the war effort. Theresienstadt was unique in its role in accomplishing this goal when compared to other concentration camps similar in nature because its central use was to dispel the inquiry surrounding the use of elderly jews. The Nazis fulfilled this goal by playing the camp off as a type of shelter and safe heaven for elderly jews during the war, however, the reality is far more inhuman. In truth, Theresienstadt was a center by which German jews were sent to spend a short amount of time to be analyzed on their physical capabilities and the careers they had held during prewar times. This analyzation would determine whether these individuals would be sent to harsh labor concentration camps, ghettos or extermination camps. Additionally, Theresienstadt supported the sinister scheme through its meager, abysmal conditions that weakened all who passed through and killed approximately 35,440 jews within the camp (“The Ghettos - Theresienstadt”). To conclude, Theresienstadt effectively served to perform its purpose to weaken German Jews, function as a filter location to send Jews to extermination camps, and most importantly, to hide from the world the truth that would become known as the Holocaust.
 * Aim - Christian Jennings **

“The Ghettos - Theresienstadt.” Yad Vashem. Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2014. “Theresienstadt.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.
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Theresienstadt was transit camp located in Czechoslovakia, mainly for Czech Jews. This was not necessarily a death camp, as prisoners were sent to Treblinka and Auschwitz to be killed by gas chambers or worked to death. Although prisoners were not immediately killed at this ghetto, the poor conditions would hopefully hasten the death of the Jewish inmates. This was to be seen as a “spa town” for Germans and the world to hide the horrors of the concentration camp. Prominent jews, such as famous actors, writers, etc. were said to have been sent East for work, however it was physically impossible for elderly men and women to be used for forced labor. Although there were terrible living conditions, the Jewish people had created a culture despite the threat of deportation and death. Since many famous painters, musicians, writers were initially sent to Theresienstadt, many of them gave “ l ectures, concerts, and theater performances [and] the ghetto maintained a lending library of 60,000 volumes” (Theresienstadt” 1). Nazis had allowed the International Red Cross to visit the concentration camp in June 1944, as an elaborate hoax to the horrors they had been committing. In an article about the concentration camp, it states, “Fake stores, a coffee house, bank, school, kindergartens and the like were opened and flower gardens were planted throughout the ghetto” (“The Ghettos” 1). Nazis revamped the ghetto, however once the visit was over, they resumed the mass killing and deportations. In fact, after a propaganda video was released, most of the inmates and children seen within the video were immediately sent to the gas chamber after its’ release. The niativity that the German people (and world) to believe that their neighbors disappeared to vacation allowed the Nazis to commit horrible acts against a group of people, mostly Jews. This is a weakness of humanity that these intolerant acts were committed against an entire group of people. Although the Nazi regime would retaliate if any German citizen would speak their mind, the allowance of anti-semitism in the culture allowed it to escalate to the deaths of millions of people.
 * Audience - Katherina Marchese **

“Theresienstadt.” //United States Holocaust Memorial Museum//. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2014. “The Ghettos: Theresienstadt.” //Yad Vashem//. The Holocaust, n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
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