The Czech Republic - Litoměřice and the Fortress Town of Terezín

Litoměřice

The Royal town of Litoměřice, founded in the 13th century, belongs to the oldest Royal Towns in the Czech Republic. Throughout its long history, Litoměřice had been granted many important privileges,  thus becoming the most important medieval town in the northern region of the Kingdom of Bohemia. Although it was later overshadowed by other towns in the region, Litoměřice still remains an important administrative centre today.

Due to its location on the east bank of the largest Czech river Labe /Elbe/, Litoměřice was an important trading port for merchant ships on their way to German towns like Pirna or Dresden. One of the many privileges granted to Litoměřice, was called "právo skladu". Under authority of this Royal privilege, every merchant was forced to unload all merchandise and sell it to the locals for three days.

Another privilege called "Právo mílové" forbade any practice of trade within the distance of 10,5 km around the town. Consequently everyone who lived in the neighboring regions had to come to the town even because of banalities like shoes repair or food purchase.

As a consequence of the Ferdinand I´s accession to the throne of Bohemia in 1526, the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were incorporated into the Habsburg Empire. This historical event was the starting point of an almost 400 years long struggle of the Czech people for the preservation of their own national identity.  Since the beginning of the 16th century, there had been a steady flow of migration of German population to many border areas of Bohemia. Thus Litoměřice became largely a "German town".

 After the treachery of Czechoslovakia in 1938, Litoměřice and all the border regions with dominating German population, were integrated into the Third Reich. This historical period is closely connected to the nearby town fortress of Terezin, which was remodeled into a Jewish ghetto. And the adjacent small fortress of Terezín, which served as a notorious Gestapo prison. For many Czechoslovak citizens, these were the last places to see, before being deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp for the final extermination.

 At the end of WWII, more than 700 000 Germans had left Czechoslovakia in fear of the approaching Red army. When the hostilities ceased in 1945, another more than two million Czechoslovak citizens of German origin were exiled from Czechoslovakia. The fear of a possible future German retribution, was the primary motor which drove the whole country into the arms of the Soviet Union.  

 Pre-war Czechoslovakia had a higher per capita output than France and was well ahead of Austria or Italy. By 1956, Communist Czechoslovakia had not only fallen behind Austria and the rest of Western Europe, but was far less efficient and much poorer that it had been twenty years earlier (Judt, 171).

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Judt, Tony. Postwar: A history of Europe since 1945. London: Vintage, 2010.

 The Town Fortress of Terezín

 

Founded in 1780, Terezin was one of the two large town fortresses, built by the Austro-Hungarian Empire to repeal the Prussian menace. It took ten years to construct, and every year more than 20 million bricks were consumed by the construction. After its completion in 1790, the Fortress of Terezin /at that time known as Theresienstadt/ quartered more than 10 000 men.

Along with its sister town fortress of Josefov, Terezin was probably the most sophisticated Bastion defense structure of its time. The extensiveness of its underground indicates the true scale of this fortress. The overall length of the tunnels, connecting 136 underground spaces, reaches 29 km.

The inner town architecture was, of course , primarily designed with a military purpose in mind. In order to withstand heavy bombardment, all the military buildings were built with reinforced walls and robust support structures.

 The whole place is engulfed in a crude military atmosphere, intensified by the fact that it was used as a Jewish ghetto. Thousands of people died within its walls because of Nazi brutality and inhumane living conditions. Even more people were sent to monstrous extermination camps like Auschwitz in Poland.

 Military food storage

Military stable

During the socialist period, Terezin was in the use of the Czechoslovak People's Army, hence its bad state of repair.

All the defense moats were designed to be flooded, in case of emergency.

 

  Getting there:

 From Prague, it takes about an hour to get there by bus. And the easiest way is to take the metro C /the red line/ to Nádraží Holešovice. Outside of the adjacent train station there is a bus terminal. All the buses going to Litoměřice, usually stop in Terezin.
 Litoměřice lies only circa 3 km noth of Terezin, thus in order to visit both places, you can either take a bus or simply walk the distance. If you will start your trip in Litoměřice, all you have to do is to cross the bridge and than follow the main road, through a village called Mlékojedy. At the end of this village, on the left side, you will see a side road leading into an alley of trees. This side road leads directly to the town fortress of Terezin, where you can later take a bus back to Prague.

Area map

You can find the up-to-date timetable information below. All you have to do is to type from Praha to Litoměřice or Terezín; district Litoměřice.  

http://jizdnirady.idnes.cz/vlakyautobusy/spojeni/