Terezin Fortress

There is another place near Prague. This is the fortress of Terezin. It was built in the late 18th century to repel attacks by Prussian troops, but never fulfilled its intended purpose. From a military and strategic point of view, of course, the narrow labyrinths in the wall of the fortress with long auditory windows are interesting. You could hear what the enemy was thinking. And in case the enemy conceived evil in silence - put on the floor a bucket of water. And if the water began to shake, it means that the enemy is digging under the fortress and you need to quickly take action.

The fortress was never attacked. It was converted into a prison for military and political prisoners. And when you look at the citadel in this light, the soul turns over several times and a lump rises in the throat. Long gray rooms with three-storey palands for two hundred people. They could only sleep on their side, breathing in the back of the neighbor’s head, otherwise they would not fit. When someone got up at night, their sleeping place was occupied and the person had to stand on the floor until the next one got up and could quickly lie down in his place. Cameras are loners with no windows. Scary and raw. Only 3 times a day, iron doors were opened for 10 seconds to throw a piece of bread and give a mug of water to the prisoner. In the darkness, people died slowly and painfully. Thus died here the accomplices of Gavrila Princip, who killed the heir to the throne of the Austrian Empire. Ironically, a few years later, Europe sighed with relief that it had rid itself of the oppression of the Habsburgs. I have described only a small fraction of the horrors that people who fell into these walls (built by similar people) had to go through. When you are here, with all the fibers of your soul, you feel this universal pain, despair and hope that has been in vain. Ask yourself, why were people so tough?

Do we really need this kind of cruelty in life??

There are many reasons to come here – to honor the memory of the martyrs of the Jewish ghetto, to see with your own eyes the conditions in which prisoners were kept, to reflect on the stupidity of our distant ancestors who built this terrible place with the purpose of torturing and killing. And let this time you find yourself not in a fairy tale, but in the cruel reality of the past. In order to love life very much afterwards. And get rid of all kinds of hatred, destructive and destructive.