The town Terezin and the Terezin Memorial are severely affected by floods. On Friday 16th and following Saturday the town Terezin, during war a prison to 150 thousand Jews, and Lesser Fortress, former Gestapo prison, found itself completely under water. Photographs, which appeared in the dailies, featured for instance canoe as the only means of transport inside the townhall at the main Terezin square, or National cemetery in front of the Lesser Fortress, which became a muddy lake.

In this report I am going to describe damage sustained by Terezin Memorial. Together with volunteers from Austrian organization Gedenkdienst I took part in clearing away of flood debris; I obtained additional information from responsible employees of the Memorial.

Situation in the town:

The flood hit all objects in the town. In the following days heaps of destroyed items appeared in front of each building: furniture, appliances, personal things, books etc. In many places pavements are giving way and in the periphery there is still water. Mud and dirt are ubiquitous. Electricity a telephone lines are only gradually restored.

Terezin Memorial:

The Terezin Memorial has undergone very positive changes in the past few years. Several expositions were opened and new educational facilities came into being. Now most of these new objects are flooded, unavailable, if not destroyed. In many ways the memorial will have to start again from scratch. The Terezin memorial suffered damage on its furnishings, exhibition halls, educational tools and many original Terezin sights are also severely affected.
 

1. Lesser Fortress

Terezin Lesser Fortress, which used to be a Gestapo prison during the Second World War, was completely inundated. All the original cells and other historical objects of the jail were hit and severely damaged, including original furnishings (bunks, floors etc.)

The worst situation is on the forth courtyard, where four-level bunks and other objects were flooded. Even the authentic scaffold, which is still under water, must have sustained major damage, just as well as the gallows. For the same reasons it is not yet possible to calculate damage on the subterranean corridor beneath the Lesser Fortress. Reconstruction and restoration of these objects will call for large financial resources and a great part of Lesser Fortress will have to be closed for at least several months.

Exposition about Terezin before the Second World War, which was situated in the entrance halls, was completely destroyed. The exposition in the Museum of Lesser Fortress will have to be dismantled due to mould spreading throughout the whole building. Only the exhibition about Milada Horáková in the Krankenrevier was saved.

Utterly destroyed were also offices and study halls with all the equipment on the ground floor of "Manor" (Panský dum), the main administrative building of Terezin Memorial. The only good news is that archive and library were saved. As far as the archive is concerned, only several cardboard boxes were affected by water, in the library five meters of books were damaged. All the records and books are now frozen and await expert restoration.
 

2. National cemetery

National cemetery, dedicated to the victims of Terezin concentration camp and prison and located below the ground level in front of Lesser Fortress, turned into a large lake during the floods. However, professional fire brigades reacted with commendable speed and drained this "reservoir" soon after the worst of floods was over. Even so the cemetery is ravaged, tombstones muddied and all the flowers gone. The Terezin Memorial so far has not assessed the damage sustained at National cemetery.
 

3. Crematorium and the Jewish cemetery

Crematorium and the Jewish cemetery are situated at the bank of Ohre river, so far remain under water and are not available. Employees of the Memorial fear that the damage on crematorium and its original equipment will be extensive.
 

4. Columbarium and the central morgue

Columbarium and the central morgue of the Terezin ghetto, which were reconstructed and opened on 16th October 2001 to commemorate 60 years from the beginning of transports, were severely damaged. Columbarium, where the ashes of deceased and cremated prisoners were being deposited throughout the existence of the ghetto, is clogged with mud.

All the new exhibits there were destroyed and part of the symbolic tombstones was damaged. The central morgue is still under water and it is evident that the newly opened exhibition there has been completely destroyed. The burial cart and other objects in ceremonial rooms near the entrance to the morgue will have to be cleaned and restored.
 

5. Ghetto museum

In November 2001 new and long awaited exhibition on the history of Terezin ghetto was opened. That exposition ranks among the key sights for any visitor of Terezin, on the par with the Lesser Fortress.

Educational and study departments in the Ghetto museum were completely destroyed. Also a very expensive electronic model of Terezin ghetto was flooded and it's not clear, whether it will be possible to renovate it. Luckily the exhibitions in the Museum were spared, only in the part devoted to Terezin children wooden floor is damaged.
 

6. Educational meeting centre

Educational meeting centre was opened several years ago in Magdeburg barracks and constitutes the core of educational activities of Terezin Memorial. It connects educational and housing facilities with exhibit rooms. Without a functional Educational meeting centre educational activities of the Memorial are de facto paralysed.

Main building of the centre has been affected very severely. Offices of educational and documentional departments have been destroyed, just as well as office of German and Austrian volunteers, with all the documents and materials gathered for years. Kitchen and dining room have been severely damaged and only part of the equipment could have been saved from kitchen. Depository in the Magdeburg barracks has also been badly damaged; fortunately it did not contain valuable documents.

In May 2002 the Memorial opened reconstructed and newly furnished second building of the Meeting centre at Prazská street. Flood destroyed lecture and social room in the basement and the whole ground floor with all the fittings.