Shortly after booking our trip to the Czech Republic, we knew we’d be setting aside a day for a trip to Terezin.  Located about an hour’s drive north of Prague, we decided to do this trip on our own.  With a bit of digging around, it wasn’t too difficult to figure out the logistics via public transit.  We arrived in Terezin under cloudy skies and light drizzle which set an appropriate tone for the day.

We knew this would be a sombre visit.  Terezin, originally built as a walled garrison town in the late 1700s, was adapted by the Germans during WWII as a concentration camp.  The first stop on our trip was for a tour of the Small Fortress, about a ten minute walk from the town square.  Just outside the entrance gate is the National Cemetery holding over 2,300 individually marked graves along with the remains of more than 10,000 who died in the Small Fortress, the Terezin Ghetto, in forced labour camps in Litomerice and in the post WWII death marches and transports.

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