Terezin POW Camp

On our way from Berlin to Prague, the Busabout tour had scheduled a day trip to a POW camp that was built in the 18th century but used primarily during the Second World War.

Collin's blisters are still horrible, so he couldn't manage a 50 minute walk in the sweltering heat. But I decided to go ahead and bring him the information that he missed.

Terezin was not a concentration camp; it was used to house prisoners of war as well as people who were part of the resistance.

Although it wasn't a death camp, it still operated with horrible conditions for its prisoners. Many of the prisoners were Jews who resisted or "criminals" from the nearby ghetto.

About 2,600 people died in this camp becasue of the disease and hard work they were subjected to as part of their imprisonment.

A bit of good news is that the information packet listed several people who were tried and executed for running the camp, which is probaby not a harsh enough punishment, but makes you feel a little better that someone paid even just a little bit for these injustices.

We walked through the wooden bunks once covered in vermin that the prisoners slept in. We saw the "morgue" where people were placed after they died. We saw the places where people were executed by shooting as well as a gallows that was used to hang Polish people in particular.

There was a one-room "hospital" on site where one doctor worked on the thousands of sick people. Of course one isn't enough, so other prisoners were enlisted to help care for the others. After the war, when they were trying all of the authority figures from the camp, the doctor was pardoned because so many people testified in his favor for his compassion for the prisoners.

We also saw the tiny rooms where the Jewish people were crammed into. The woman guiding the tour said that even though this wasn't a concentration camp, the Jewish people were still treated the worst and died at the highest rates. Many people who came through Terezin were later moved to Death Camps.

One great story from within the walls is the tale of three prisoners who escaped successfully from the prison. They somehow had a few materials, including wire-cutters, and overnight cut through the barbed-wire and climbed over a low wall to get to the expansive fields that lay beyond. By the time the guards found out, the escapees were long-gone. After that, the guards cut a piece of cement off of the wall to prevent further escape, but it is such a miracle that even three people were able to escape successfully.

Outside of the grounds, there is a beautiful cemetery with red roses among all of the graves. There is a Star of David that stands boldly above.

By the way, today is the Fourth of July! Happy Birthday America!

Last night we were in a conversation with people from New Zealand about corruption--namely in the US, and I found myself making a rather brilliant point about corruption. I said that if there is one thing I have learned from traveling it is that almost every single place is corrupt in one way or another. And it is corrupt because people are running it. The whole world has something in common, and that is that sick, twisted, power-hungry, corrupt-natured human beings are running it.

"Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

After traveling, I feel better as an American. I know that we are hated for being too powerful, too greedy, too fat, too stupid, and all sorts of other things. But I think that we are easy to hate. The other corrupt nations of the world have to point the finger at someone, and we are the sore thumb of a crippled hand--we just stick out further.

Traveling has taught me, or rather solidified my understanding, that we are all equal as humans. Good or bad, we are all innately the same.