In chronological order, the events preceding the persecution of the Jews in Bohemia and Moravia during the World War II are chronicled, and so is the course of the persecution itself.
  The events concerning the six children whose fates the exhibition presents are highlighted in colour.
 
 
 

 

1918		1918–1933: Weimar Republic – the period of a democratic regime in Germany
1921		Adolf Hitler becomes the chairman of the NSDAP (National-Socialistic German Labour Party)
1925		Adolf Hitler’s book Mein Kampf is published
1928		1. 2.: Petr Ginz is born in Prague
		5. 7.: Alice Justitzová is born in Prague
1930		24. 10.: Eva Löwidtová is born in Děčín
1931		16. 6.: Martin Glas is born in Prague
1932		3. 1.: Pavel Werner is born in Pardubice
1933		30. 1.: Adolf Hitler is appointed the Chancellor of Germany
		20. 3.: The concentration camp in Dachau is established
1934		26. 1.: Růženka Friedová is born in Prague
		30. 6.: The „Nacht der langen Messer“ (Night of the Long Knives) - the commanders of the SA troops (Sturmabteilung) are murdered
1935		15. 9.: The so-called „Nuremberg Laws“ are adopted at the NSDAP convention
1936		7. 3.: The German army enters the demilitarized zone of the Rhine
1938		13. 3.: The occupation of Austria - the so-called Anschluß
		29. 9.: Munich Agreement – Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy, without the participation of Czechoslovakia, agree on surrendering Czechoslovak border areas to Germany
		5. 10.: Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš resigns and goes into exile in London
		9. 11. - 11. 11.: Within the territory of the German Reich (and also in the sequestrated Czechoslovak border area) the pogrom known as the „Kristallnacht“ (Crystal Night) is set off – most synagogues are either burnt down or destroyed, Jewish shops are robbed and many Jews are killed or dragged into concentration camps
		November 38 - September 39: Emigration of selected children from Austria, Germany and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia to England is enabled
		30. 11.: Emil Hácha is appointed the president of the Czechoslovak Republic
		December 1938: Arrival of Nicholas Winton in Prague
		14. 3.: The first children’s transport of 20 children is dispatched from Prague to England
1939		14. 3.: The independent Slovak state is declared
		15. 3.: Occupation of Czech lands by German army
		16. 3.: the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia is declared
		March 1939: In the Protectorate these anti-Semitic orders are adopted:  • Jewish defence lawyers are forbidden to practise  • ban on working in public administration, institutes and institutions  • ban on working in courts of law  • ban on teaching at schools  • doctors of a „non-Aryan origin“ are forbidden to practise in all health institutions
		19. 4.: The second transport of 36 children is dispatched from Prague to England
		29. 4.: The third transport of 29 children was dispatched from Prague to England
		13. 5.: The fourth transport children was dispatched from Prague to England
		2. 6.: The fifth transport of 123 children was dispatched from Prague to England
		21. 6.: The order of Reich protector Konstantin von Neurath on Jewish property was issued – the Nuremberg Laws became valid in the territory of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
		July 1939: Ban on teaching Jewish children at German elementary and secondary schools
		1. 7.: The sixth transport of 241 children was dispatched from Prague to England. Alice is also departing with this transport
		20. 7.: The seventh transport of 76 children was dispatched from Prague to England, Alice’s sister Mimka was among them
		28. 7.: In Prague the authorities of occupation initiated the establishment of the Centre for Jewish Emigration
		August 1939: The Jews are banned from restaurants and coffee bars if the bars do not have special room for the Jews
		2. 8.: The eighth transport of 68 children was dispatched from Prague to England
		1. 9.: BEGINNING OF WORLD WAR II
		1. 9.: The forthcoming biggest transport from Prague to England could not leave
		September 1939: • The obligation for the Jews to surrender radio sets • The ban for the Jews to go out after 8 p.m.
		October 1939: It becomes possible to dismiss an employed Jew on the first day of the month without giving reasons
		November 1939: Blocked Jewish accounts are established, which the Jews are allowed to have only with the permission of the authorities
		During the year of 1939: • The Jews are expelled from all societies • The Jews are not allowed to attend playing fields, not even as spectators
1940		January: • All payments to a Jewish person must be sent to blocked bank accounts • The Jews may not manage their former businesses, which were transferred into Aryan hands
		February: • The obligation for all Jews to declare their property by 31 January 1939 is announced • The Jews are banned from attending theatres and cinemas
		March: The identity cards of the Jews were labelled with red letter “J”
		May: Ban on entering all public parks and gardens in Prague
		14. 6.: Police prison of the Prague Gestapo was established in Malá pevnost (“Small Fortress”) in Terezín
		July: The Jews banned from cruises on steamboats
		August: • The purchase period 11-13 and 15- 16.30 was allocated for the Jews • Ban on accepting Jewish students into schools with Czech as a teaching language • The Jews are finally banned from entering coffee shops and restaurants
		September: The Jews are allowed to go by tram only in the last car and on the back platform
		November: The Jews are banned from changing their residence and leaving their districts
		December: The Jews are banned from entering some streets in the centre of Prague
1941		January: • The Jews have their telephones confiscated • The ration of apples for the Jews was cancelled • The Jews ordered to hand over their driving licences
		February: Ban on fishing for the Jews
		March: The Jews are not allowed to get clothes vouchers
		June: The sugar rations for the Jews were cancelled
		July: The Jews are banned from entering all woods including private ones
		August: Rations of pulses are taken from the Jews
		September: • The Jews are banned from leaving their residential district without police permission • All Jews over 6 are forced to wear the yellow Star of David • The Jews are banned from public libraries
		October: • The Jews are banned from smoking tobacco and purchasing tobacco products • The Jews are only allowed to use the lowest train class • The Jews are banned from purchasing shaving soap • Ban on purchasing fruit and sweets for Jews • Ban on purchasing or giving as a present marmalades and jams to the Jews • Ban on purchasing cheese • Ban on purchasing or giving as a present fish, poultry or venison to the Jews • The Jews lose the entitlement to wages in illness, sickness benefits, family allowance • The Jews lose the entitlement to paid holiday • The Jews may only be employed in groups, separated from other employees • The Jews must not be given apprenticeship
		10. 10.: At a meeting held by Reinhardt Heydrich, Terezín is determined to be a suitable place for the concentration of most Jews from the Protectorate and it is decided to deport a part of the Protectorate Jews to Lodz and Minsk
		November: The Jews are not allowed to purchase onions
		24. 11.: The first transport to Terezín – the so called Aufbaukommando (building commando) consisting of 342 men
		30. 11.: Beginning of deportations of whole families from the Protectorate
		4. 12.: Arrival of the second building commando consisting of 1000 men in Terezín
		10. 12. 1941: Eva is deported with her parents in the transport L from Prague to Terezín
1942		January: The compulsion for the Jews to surrender furs and wool things
		9. 1.: The first transport from Terezín to the east – the destination is Riga, Latvia
		20. 1.: Conference in Wannsee where the co-ordination of the “final solution to the Jewish question” was agreed upon
		16. 2.: Abolishment of the the Terezín municipality; henceforth Terezín is marked only for the Jews who should be placed in closed settlements
		16. 4.: Martin is deported with his parents and brother in the transport St-Ez from Prague to Terezín
		2. 6.: The first transport of the Jews from Germany to Terezín
		27. 6.: The last civilian population left Terezín
		June 1942: The requirement for the Jews to report their dogs, cats and pet birds
		3. 7.: The civilian names of the streets in Terezín ghetto were abolished, the streets are marked with letters L and Q (Langestrasse and Querstrasse)
		6. 7.: Terezín becomes the so called “open town“ with the exception of the parts that are inaccessible to the Jewish prisoners
		18. 9.: The highest number of the prisoners within the entire history of Terezín – 58,491 people
		24. 1.: Petr is deported in the transport Ca from Prague to Terezín
		26. 10.: The beginning of deportations from Terezín to Auschwitz- Birkenau – since this date the only destination of all the transports dispatched from Terezín is to the east
		9. 12.: Pavel was deported together with his parents and sister in transport Cg from Pardubice to Terezín
		17. 12.: Friedl Dicker-Brandeis is deported to Terezín where she devotes herself to teaching drawing
		18. 12. 1942 – 30. 7. 1944: Every Friday the Vedem magazine is issued (The total number of the issues is 82)
1943		18. 3.: The road by-pass around Terezín was finished and opened. The isolation of the town was completed
		21. 4.: The “Bank of the Jewish Self-rule” was established
		1. 5.: The name “Ghetto Terezín” was abolished and the designation “Jewish Settlement” was introduced
		7. 7.: The compulsion of the female prisoners in Terezín to report their pregnancy, if the woman became pregnant in Terezín, an abortion was ordered
		24. 8.: The arrival of a children’s transport from the ghetto in Bialystok in Poland after its liquidation in Terezín – 1,300 children are kept in top isolation to suppress information on the situation in Poland
		6. 9.: All the transports to the east are posed as heavy labour transports from this day on
		September 1943: The transport of 5,000 prisoners from Terezín to Auschwitz- Birkenau, where they were accommodated in the so called Terezín family camp
		23. 9.: The first night of the children´s opera Brundibár in Magdeburg barracks (till Autumn 1944 the opera had a run of 55 performances)
		28. 9.: Petr is deported to Auschwitz, he does not get through the selection and dies in a gas chamber
		29. 10. 1943 – March 1944: The children´s magazine Kamarád is issued in Terezín (The total number of the issues is 19)
		19. 11.: The beginning of the “beautifying of the town” in the Terezín ghetto - “Verschönerung der Stadt”
		December 1943: Another mass transport of Terezín prisoners to the family camp in Auschwitz- Birkenau
		15. 12.: Pavel is transported to the family camp in Auschwitz
		22. 12. 1943 – 2. 5. 1944: The magazine Domov is issued in Terezín (The total number of the issues is 10)
		1943 – 1944: The magazine Nešar is issued in Terezín (The total number of the issues is 13)
1944		January 1944 – February 1944: The magazine Hlas půdy is issued in Terezín (The total number of the issues is 3)
		January 1944 – June 1944: The magazine Bonaco is issued in Terezín (The total number of issues is 6)
		25. 2. 1944 – 24. 8. 1944: The magazine Rim Rim Rim, is issued in Terezín (The total number of issues is 23 plus 3 special editions)
		February 1944 – May 1944: The magazine Noviny is issued in Terezín (The total number of issues is 9 plus 3 illustrated supplements)
		8. 3.: The mass murder of Czech and Moravian Jews who were placed in the family camp Auschwitz- Birkenau after their arrival in September 1943
		May: The last mass transport from Terezín to the family camp in Auschwitz- Birkenau
		23. 6.: The visitation from the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Danish government in Terezín
		10. 7.: The selection was carried out in the family camp in Auschwitz- Birkenau
		10. – 12. 7.: Liquidation of the Terezín family camp, those who did not get through the selection were murdered in a gas chamber
		16. 8. – 11. 9.: Shooting of a propagandist film in Terezín
		September to October 1944: The so-called liquidation transports from Terezín to Auschwitz
		September: The magazine Kamarád is issued again (issues 20 – 21)
		4. 10. 1944: Eva is deported together with her mother to Auschwitz
		Autumn of 1944: The Committee of Christian Aid to Jewish Children is established in Prague, Přemysl Pitter is a member
		2. 11.: Murder in the gas chambers in Auschwitz is ceased
		26. 11.: The gas chambers in Auschwitz are, according to the Nazis’ order, blown up
1945		26. 1. – 16. 3.: Jews, including their children, who are living in so-called mixed marriages are deported from Prague, Ostrava and Olomouc to Terezín
		January: Evacuation of the concentration and extermination camp in Auschwitz
		January: Pavel goes through the march to Loslau and train transport to Mauthausen
		January: Eva and her mother walk in the death march from Grünberg in Lower Silesia through the Protectorate in the direction of Volary. Eva succeeds in escaping the march and a family from Postřeliv at Domažlice hides her
		5. 2.: 1.200 Terezín prisoners leave in a train transport for Switzerland (there were 95 people from Bohemia and Moravia in the transport)
		11. 2.: Růženka and her father are deported in the transport AE 3 from Prague to Terezín
		March: Pavel takes part in the death march from Mauthausen to Melk and back
		April: Pavel takes part in another death march from Mauthausen to Gunskirchen
		Since 20th April: The evacuation transports from the camps in Poland arrive in Terezín
		May: Růženka and her father go home to Prague
		Summer 1945: The family of her Eva’s aunt Ilona arrives in Postřekov to take her home
		24. 4. – June: The epidemic of typhoid in Terezín spread by the evacuation transports
		3. 5.: The Czech Aid Action for Terezín originates
		4. 5.: The SS troops leave Terezín
		5. 5.: The commander of Terezín Karl Rahm and his family leave Terezín
		6. 5.: Appeal of the International Red Cross to Terezín prisoners
		7. 5.: The Prague radio calls for help for Terezín
		8. 5.: Fights break out in the vicinity of Terezín, in the evening Terzín is liberated by the Red Army
		8. 5.: ENDING OF THE WAR IN EUROPE
		10. 5.: Major Kuzmin, a soldier in the Red Army, becomes the military commander of Terezín
		11. 5.: The official liquidation of the ghetto in Terezín
		28. 5.: The repatriation committee was established and the repatriation of the former ghetto prisoners was started
		15. 5.: Přemysl Pitter receives the chateaux of Štiřín, Olešovice, Lojovice and Kamenice u Prahy, confiscated for the purpose of children’s sanatoriums, from the Czech National Council
		May 1945 – May 1947: The stay of the children from the former concentration camps in the convalescent homes at the chateaux in the vicinity of Prague
		22. 5.: The first 40 Jewish children from Terezín arrive at the sanatoria
		June 1945: Pavel returns to Pardubice
		8. 6.: Martin arrives at the sanatorium in Kamenice, later was sent to Štiřín
		23. 6.: Eva Ginzová, Peter’s sister, arrives at the sanatorium in Kamenice
		26. 7.: The arrival of the first 56 German children from the detention camp in Prague at the sanatoria in the chateaux near Prague
		13. 8.: Martin leaves the sanatorium to return home to his mother
		17. 8.: Finishing the work of the repatriation committee for Terezín
		28. 8.: Alice returns from England to Prague
		November 1945: The last repatriates leave Terezín
1946		July 1946: Eva arrives at the orphan’s home on Belgická street in Prague
1947		May: The “Chateaux Project” organized by Přemyslem Pitterem is finished

 
 
THE COLOUR KEY:
 

Růženka Friedová	Eva Löwidtová
Alice Justitzová	Pavel Werner
Martin Glas	Petr Ginz

 
 
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