They taught us in secret

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When Mrs. Helga Hošková recollects the time she spent in Terezín as a child during the war, she remarks with gratitude that even though it was strictly forbidden, there were people there who would teach children in secret, in improvised condition: “School teaching was strictly forbidden in Terezín. The children were only allowed to draw and do some handicraft, I think. There were no classes, no boards, no textbooks, no things like notebooks and pencils, but in spite of that we were being taught. All the school subjects. In secret. There were teachers in the ranks of prisoners. But there were also people who were good at something and had knowledge and were simply very fond of children. They would come to us and we would learn.” When the secret lessons were taking place, there was always someone on watch in front of the barrack to warn against unwanted visitors. If someone was approaching the barrack, the person on watch would call out, “a visitor is coming,” which was an innocent remark but the children knew right away that they had to hide pieces of paper and anything that would give away that teaching was in progress. The teachers in Terezín were called “Betreuers,” guardians: “These people had no advantages. If somebody was working in the kitchen or in agriculture, then they would have access to some extra food. But these people had no benefits, nothing. Their services were round the clock. They lived with us in those children’s homes, some of them even slept with some of the children in their room. There were also ill children among us. Somebody had to take care of those too. So, they were guardians, parents, and keepers.”

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Helga Hošková-Weissová

Academic artist Helga Hošková-Weissová, Dr.h.c., was born November 10, 1929 in Prague-Libeň in a Jewish assimilated family. After the occupation of Czechoslovakia, the family became victim to a number of persecutions by the Nazis, and in December 1941, they were transported to the Terezín ghetto. They spent nearly three years there, and during this time, Helga drew over a hundred of drawings depicting everyday life in Terezín. The picture-cycle, known as Draw What You See, is a precious work and a valuable historical testimony. At the beginning of October 1944, the Weiss family was transported to Auschwitz. While her father died in a gas chamber there, Helga and her mother were later selected to work in an aircraft factory in Freiberg, Germany. In April 1945, they set out on a death march to Mauthausen, where they were liberated on May 5. After the war, Helga simultaneously studied at a secondary graphic arts school and a grammar school. In 1950, she enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, where she studied in the studio of professor Emil Filla. In 1965, she went on a study trip to Israel, which helped her to brighten her palette of colors as well as her outlook on life, and the resulting series of paintings, which she exhibited in spring 1968 in Prague under the title, "Pictures from Wandering Through the Holy Land," became a great success. This opened the door to the world of artists for her; however, shortly after, this door was slammed shut by the invasion of "brotherly armies" the following August. She stopped painting for several years and in the meantime taught at a school for amateur artists. She gradually returned to painting - as well as to the motifs of war, Holocaust, disaster, and catastrophe in general. In her art, she strives to pass the message to the young generation so that they may never commit what had befallen her. In 2009, she was awarded the 1st class State Medal for Merit in the field of culture, art and education, and the Josef Hlávka Medal.

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Terezín (Theresienstadt), Main Fortress

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The Terezín Main Fortress is part of the defensive complex founded by Emperor Joseph II in 1780. It lies on the confluence of the Rivers Labe, (Elbe), and Ohře, and was originally supposed to serve as a defensive fortress in the case of a Prussian invasion. It was never used in a military capacity however, as the Prussians simply circumvented it. Terezín gained the status of garrison town, the army remained present here until the end of the 20th century. The fortress comprises two parts: the Main Fortress and the Small Fortress. Already since its construction, the Small Fortress served as a military prison; the Main Fortress was inhabited. However, the Nazis decided to create a Jewish ghetto there, and so the civilian inhabitants were deported and on 24 November 1941 the Jewish ghetto of Terezín was founded. When preparing the ghetto, the Nazis made use of the Jewish Community of Prague. The Nazis claimed that Terezín would be a camp in which the Jewish population of the Protectorate would be interned, but from which it would not be transported East. In 1942 at a conference in Wannsee, the Nazis confirmed the specific status of the Terezín ghetto. It was supposed to be a so-called “old-age ghetto,” which would house old people, often veterans of World War 1 not only from the Protectorate, but also from Germany and Austria. In this way, the Nazis created an alibi for themselves – they could claim that old people were not being sent East into “labor camps,” but that they remained in Terezín. This was a lie because even from Terezín transports were dispatched, which were full of old people. In actual fact, the primary function of the ghetto was to collect the Jews and transport them elsewhere. The average number of inmates during the four years of the ghetto’s existence fluctuated between thirty to forty thousand, (before WWII the town had about 7,000 inhabitants, military garrison included). During its peak in September 1942, however, the camp held almost 58,500 prisoners (At the time, an average of 127 people died every day!). The overloaded capacity meant that the ghetto offered very bad living conditions causing a high death rate. To top it all, towards the end of the war a typhus epidemic broke out in the camp. Overall, approx. 155,000 people passed through the Terezín concentration camp, of which 118,000 did not survive World War II, (including those killed by the typhus epidemic). Terezín was liberated without any fighting. On 1 May 1945, control of the camp was entrusted to the Red Cross, on 5 May the last Nazis fled before the nearing front, and on 8 May 1945 the first Soviet units arrived.