The cemetery at the former Theresienstadt concentration camp where 10,000 Holocaust victims are buried has been swamped by floodwaters, submerging everything but the tops of gravestones under a large muddy lake. Floodwaters from the Ohre River a few feet away swept not only over the rows of graves last Thursday, but also the nearby museum. AP reports that firemen are working to pump out the water, though these efforts may take months. Precious documents describing Holocaust life in the concentration camp have literally been hung out to dry.
Over 140,000 Jews were brought to Theresienstadt and its surrounding ghetto during the Holocaust; 83,000 were later sent to be killed in other concentration camps, and 34,000 died or were killed in Theresienstadt itself. When burial ground in Theresienstadt began getting scarce, the Nazis built a crematorium there that could burn 190 bodies a day, the ashes of which they stored. In an effort to cover their tracks near the end of the war, the Nazis dumped 17,000 boxes of ashes of their dead Jewish victims -- into the Ohre River.
Over 140,000 Jews were brought to Theresienstadt and its surrounding ghetto during the Holocaust; 83,000 were later sent to be killed in other concentration camps, and 34,000 died or were killed in Theresienstadt itself. When burial ground in Theresienstadt began getting scarce, the Nazis built a crematorium there that could burn 190 bodies a day, the ashes of which they stored. In an effort to cover their tracks near the end of the war, the Nazis dumped 17,000 boxes of ashes of their dead Jewish victims -- into the Ohre River.