During this tour you will learn about World War II and its impacts on former Czechoslovakia. Terezín is the name of a former military fortress and garrison town. In the late 18th century the Habsburg Monarchy erected the fortress as a stronghold against the Prussians from the North. They named it after Empress Maria Theresa.

Terezín´s most tragic chapter came during WWII (1939-45). In 1940 Prague's Gestapo installed the Minor Fortress police prison. About 32,000 prisoners passed through the Minor Fortress between 1940 and 1945, of whom 2,500 were killed by hunger, disease, tyrannical guards and executions. In 1941 the town of Terezín was changed by the Nazis into a Jewish ghetto-transit camp. Until the end of the war more than 150,000 deportees passed through the camp, 35,000 of whom died there. Russian forces liberated Terezín on May 10, 1945, 8 days after Berlin had fallen to the Allies. Today the camp stands as a memorial to the dead and a monument to human depravity.

As you enter the main gate, the sign above it, ARBEIT MACHT FREI (Work Sets One Free), sets a gloomy tone. You can walk through the prison barracks, execution grounds, workshops, and isolation cells. During this tour you will also visit a local museum about the Terezín concentration camp and see an educational movie.