Terezin (Theresienstadt) is a town in northwest Czechoslovakia founded in the late eighteenth
century by Emperor Joseph II and named after his mother, Maria Teresa. It was originally a fortress meant to keep out Prague invaders. During WWII, it was made a ghetto camp for holding Jews that
were to be deported to other killing centers in the east. It was also used as a forced labor camp and most importantly, used by the Nazis as a propaganda "model camp". The Red Cross was aware of all the other concentration camps and the mass killings and horrible conditions that the prisoners were kept under. They wanted to visit a concentration camp to see the conditions up close. The Nazis invited the Red Cross to Terezin to inspect the camp. They prepared for the visit by painting houses, renovating barracks, and planting gardens. Social and cultural events were set up and the Red Cross representatives didn't find anything wrong. After the Red Cross members left, the Nazis resumed deportations. From it's start on November 24th, 1941 to it's end on May 9th, 1945, 140,000 Jews were deported to Terezin. Of that, 33,000 died there and 88,000 were deported to eastern killing centers. 3,000 of the deported Jews survived the killing centers, and when the camp was liberated, 19,000 were found alive.
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