Theresienstadt Papers

The Theresienstadt Papers (in German original Theresienstadt-Konvolut) are a collection of historical documents of the Jewish self-government of Theresienstadt concentration camp. These papers include an "A list" of so-called "prominents" interned in the camp and a "B-list" created by the Jewish Elders themselves. The Theresienstadt papers include two albums with biographies and many photographs, 64 watercolors and drawings from prisoners in Theresiendstadt, and the annual report of the Theresienstadt Central Library. The papers were preserved at the liberation of the camp in May 1945 by Theresienstadt librarian Käthe Starke-Goldschmidt and later loaned to the Altona Museum for Art and Cultural History in Hamburg by her son Pit Goldschmidt. The collection was opened for viewing by the public in 2002 at the Heine Haus branch of the Altona Museum.

Theresienstadt, also called Terezin, was a hybrid of ghetto and concentration camp. Although in practice the ghetto, run by the SS, served as a transit camp for Jews en route to extermination camps, it was also presented as a "model Jewish settlement" for propaganda purposes.

From 1942, the Nazis interned the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia, elderly Jews and persons of "special merit" in the Reich, and several thousand Jews from the Netherlands and Denmark. The camp became known as the destination for the Altentransporte ("elderly transports") of German Jews, older than 65. Many prominent artists from Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Germany were imprisoned at Theresienstadt, along with writers, scientists, jurists, diplomats, musicians, and scholars.

Among the western European Jews deported to the camp were 456 Jews from Denmark, sent to Theresienstadt in 1943, and a number of European Jewish children whom Danish organizations had tried to conceal in foster homes. The arrival of the Danes was significant, as their government requested access to the camp for the International Red Cross, so that they could view and evaluate conditions there. Historians believe the Nazis complied with the request to keep the Danes satisfied, as they were impressed by the production of Danish workers in factories. In addition, the tide of war was changing.

As part of the general preparations for the Red Cross visit, in the spring of 1944, the Gestapo screened the Jews of Theresienstadt, classifying them according to social prominence. The prominents of Theresienstadt were catalogued in two almost identical portfolios in blue cardboard cover and fasteners. Begun on 1 January 1944, these binders include not only resumes and many photographs, but identified the individual according to which category of prominence they fit, "A" or "B." The so-called prominents included cultural professionals, high-ranking military officers, politicians, scientists, aristocrats, bankers and industrialists and also, in some cases, their families.

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