Терезин: Ескі қамал және қасіретті гетто тарихы

Terezín (; Theresienstadt) is a town in Litoměřice District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,800 inhabitants. It is a former military fortress composed of the citadel and adjacent walled garrison town. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation. Terezin is most infamously the location of the Nazis' notorious Theresienstadt Ghetto.

The villages of České Kopisty, Nové Kopisty and Počaply are administrative parts of Terezín.

The fortress town was named after Empress Maria Theresa .

Terezín is located about south of Litoměřice and southeast of Ústí nad Labem. It lies in a flat landscape of the Lower Ohře Table. It is situated on both banks of the Ohře River, near its confluence with the Elbe. The Elbe forms the northern municipal border.

On 10 January 1780, Habsburg Emperor Joseph II ordered the erection of the fortress, named Theresienstadt after his mother Empress Maria Theresa. In the times of Austria–Prussia rivalry, it was meant to secure the bridges across the Ohře and Elbe rivers against Prussian troops invading the Bohemian lands from neighbouring Saxony. Simultaneously, Josefov Fortress (Josephstadt) was erected near Jaroměř as a protection against Prussian attacks. The fortress consisted of a citadel, the "Small Fortress", to the east of the Ohře, and a walled town, the "Main Fortress", to the west. The total area of the fortress was In peacetime it held 5,655 soldiers, and in wartime around 11,000 soldiers could be placed here. Trenches and low lying areas around the fortress could be flooded for defensive purposes. Garrison church in the Main Fortress was designed by Heinrich Hatzinger, Julius D'Andreis and Franz Joseph Fohmann. The fortress was never under direct siege. During the Austro Prussian War, on 28 July 1866, part of the garrison attacked and destroyed an important railway bridge near Neratovice (rail line Turnov–Kralupy nad Vltavou) that was shortly before repaired by the Prussians. This attack occurred two days after Austria and Prussia had agreed to make peace, but the Theresienstadt garrison was ignorant of the news. During the second half of the 19th century, the fortress was also used as a prison. During World War I, the fortress was used as a political prison camp. Soldiers and civilians who showed opposition to the war were imprisoned here. Although it was not an extermination camp, about 33,000 died in the ghetto. This was mostly due to the appalling conditions arising out of extreme population density, malnutrition and disease. About 88,000 inhabitants were deported to Auschwitz and the other extermination camps. As late as the end of 1944, the Germans were still deporting Jews to the death camps. At the end of the war, there were 17,247 survivors of Theresienstadt (including some who had survived the death camps).

After the related war uses, the government retained a military garrison until 1996. The town was struck by the 2002 European floods during which the crematorium was damaged. According to the Fund, a long term conservation plan was conceived, which includes further repairs, documentation, and archaeological research.

Terezín is mainly dependent on tourism. Terezín Memorial was the second most visited tourist destination of the Ústí nad Labem Region and the most visited memorial place in the country in 2022 with more than 186 thousand visitors.

The Church of the Resurrection of Christ was built in the Empire style in 1805–1810. With its has a tall tower, it belongs among the main landmarks of the town. It is a very valuable example of a sacral building in the Czech Republic in this style. The Church of Saint Adalbert is located in Počaply. It was built in the Baroque style in 1724–1726 by Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer.