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Terezín

Terezín
Town
Terezin CZ Resurrection church as seen from Havlicek Str 676.jpg
View to Resurrection church from Havlicek Street
Flag
Coat of arms
Country Czech Republic
Region Ústí nad Labem
District Litoměřice
River Ohře
Elevation 150 m (492 ft)
Coordinates 50°30′N 14°9′E / 50.500°N 14.150°E / 50.500; 14.150Coordinates: 50°30′N 14°9′E / 50.500°N 14.150°E / 50.500; 14.150
Area 13.52 km2 (5.22 sq mi)
Population 3,121
Density 231/km2 (598/sq mi)
Founded 1780
Mayor Hana Rožcová
Timezone CET (UTC+1)
 - summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 411 55
Location in the Czech Republic
Location in the Czech Republic
Statistics: statnisprava.cz
Website: www.terezin.cz

Terezín (Czech pronunciation: [ˈtɛrɛziːn]; German: Theresienstadt) is a former military fortress composed of citadel and adjacent walled garrison town of Litoměřice District, in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic.

After the Munich Agreement in September 1938 and following the occupation of the Czech lands in March 1939, with the existing prisons gradually filled up as a result of the Nazi terror, the Prague Gestapo Police prison was set up in the Small Fortress (see History) in 1940. The first inmates arrived on 14 June 1940. By the end of the war 32,000 prisoners of whom 5,000 were women passed through the Small Fortress. These were primarily Czechs, later other nationals, for instance citizens of the former Soviet Union, Poles, Germans and Yugoslavs. Most of the prisoners were arrested for various acts of resistance to the Nazi regime; in many cases they were later sent to extermination camps such as Mauthausen. The camp also held family members and supporters of the assassins of Reinhard Heydrich. The Jewish Ghetto was created in 1941.

The town is located in North Bohemia, along the Ohře River, near its confluence with the Elbe River at Litoměřice.

On 10 January 1780, the 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.


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