Although Terezín was not an extermination camp, more than 33,000 people (primarily Jews) perished within its walls during World War II and the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. Still another 88,000 individuals were sent from Terezín be slaughtered farther to the east at Auschwitz and Mauthausen.

In the company of a historian, you will spend your hour drive in a private car or minivan to Terezín learning about the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 and the steady erosion of civil rights for Jews and other groups in the so-called Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, until the beginning of the transports that brought the Jews to the overcrowded, unhygienic conditions of the ghetto.

With careful attention to detail and historical context and sensitivity to the emotional experience of visitors, your guide will help you to move through the Small Fortress, Ghetto Museum, Magdeburg Barracks, Crematorium, Columbarium, Ceremonial Halls and Central Morgue, and a replica of an attic room. The exposition is a fairly large one so you will need six hours (including the 1 hour journey from Prague and back).