As a kid I always questioned my religion and could never understand why my parents loved to go to temple for services that lasted hours while I dreaded it . As a Jewish girl growing up in a largely Jewish city stories of the Holocaust and anti-semitism floated around my conscience - I felt compassion for my elders but never internally.

That is until I visited Tereisenstadt with my grandmother. Nana, as she is fondly called, was married to a German Jew who's family fled to the States right before WWII was in full swing. She and my Papa told a few stories of scattered family and I always saw deep pain in their eyes- their recognition of those who had been murdered in places like Tereisenstadt. My Nana is an avid traveler and has been all over the world, so I had no idea it was going to be her first time visiting an actual concentration camp.

In a van on the way from Prague to Tereisenstadt, Nana and I met a very old and crumbly Isreali Jew. He told us about how the camp we were about to see was set up as a "model camp" to show to the Red Cross when they came to inspect the situation of holding the captured. However, what I saw was hardly ideal.

After about an hour, we arrived, and before entering the camp, Nana, the Isreali, and I said a Kaddish- the mourners prayer. How powerful to have been singing in remembrance of loved ones who have passed and walking through the entrance gate you are faced with endless fields bleeding with red roses for those who died at Tereisenstadt.

There were two separate fields- one for Jews and one for Christians, lest we forget everyone was a victim of this era.

Nana is in tears and I hold her hand as we walk through the most depressing and powerful memorial I've seen.
Once inside the actual concentration camp grounds there is a good tour that gives all the information you might want and you can even go inside all of the facilities.

Coincidentally, we were there the same day as the Abercrombie Kids Aryan model field trip was planned to visit. Awkward...

Below is a gallery of different facilities- check them out to get a pretty good idea of the grounds.

I did not take photos of the living quarters, if you can call them that. Seeing these inhabitable rooms housing a hundred prisoners, one toilet in the room, and a sink if you were lucky, just made me sick inside. It was a terrible feeling but nothing compared to what the people went through there and it helped me understand the concept of concentration camps.

Visiting Tereisenstadt, or any concentration camp, is important for travelers. We've seen poverty, illness, and a lot of bitter-sweet moments- and we have a duty to see all the truths in the world- tragic and triumphant.