Burials and crematoriums in Litoměřice and Terezín
Burials and crematoriums in Litoměřice and Terezín
I quote from the book The Little Fortress Terezin published as the first publication of this kind in 1950
The dead bodies of prisoners, deceased or executed in prison, were deposited, stripped off at the morgue, at the Small Fortress, where they were presented to the police physician on Tuesdays and Fridays for an evening of inspection. The police physician has always been hindered by the examination of the dead in various ways. The official then signed the death certificates issued at the prison office.
Exceptionally, the corpses of executed prisoners were taken from the execution site directly to the crematorium in Terezín or in Litoměřice.
Originally, the prisoners' dead bodies were placed in crates, and more bodies came into the crate. Later it was wrapped in paper bags, but not even when transported from the scaffold. According to F. Bubák, who told funerals of prisoners who died in Terezín with permission
The Gestapo of Prague and according to the list submitted by him found that the first funeral was dispatched to the order of Grulla superintendent (Schupo) prisoner Josef Pilik, deceased on 24.11.1940. The prisoners chose to pay for the funeral themselves. Death leaves with causes of death have been preserved in only a few cases. The last funeral was dispatched on 29.10.1942.
Thereafter, the corpses of the prisoners were burned in a
crematorium, built at the Great Fortress of Terezín, transformed into a
concentration camp called the ghetto in the Bohušovice Basin. The ashes of
cremated prisoners were destroyed. The urns with the ashes of Terezín prisoners
of about 300 were stored in a room by the bridge against the morgue where,
according to the guard, Hohause was a storage of soda for the SS cantina.
The number of cremated prisoners was not detected precisely because the registry of deceased prisoners was destroyed at the end of the war. At the end of February 1945 it stopped burning in the Terezín crematorium and was buried in mass graves in the north wall.
The burning of dead prisoners in temporary incinerators is evidenced, among other things, by this report from Litoměřice:
"Investigating the local authority found that former political prisoners, either executed or tortured in a concentration camp
in Terezín or at work in the “Richard” and “Esla B” plants in Litoměřice, they were burned in a makeshift crematorium in Litoměřice
and Brickworks in Michalovice Street 14.
Crematorium was built in December 1944 by former political prisoners working in the "Elsa B" and "Richard" races. It lies to the southeast
side of the brickworks, it is a small house of 20 x 8 m with a high chimney. The building has two entrances and is 2 m high
barbed wire.
Until May 1945, in the crematorium, Václav Pritzl, a German national, was employed as a stoker in Litoměřice.
in 1937 organized by a member of SDP and since 1939 was a member of the NSDAP.
The construction of the crematorium was designed and managed by the German Reich, Fritz of Berlin, who ordered Pritzl to put the ashes and bones back into the furnace. That said
Pritzl did only once, then dug behind the crematorium a grave to clean the ashes and bones.
Various parts of the bloody garments murdered were found on the spot, a white isosceles triangle is sewn on one blouse
SS No. 24014. The SS guards and guards seemed to have been holding a drinking pit as liquor bottles were found in the crematorium.
Access to the building was strictly forbidden, the guard service was held by SS members who often used firearms.
The number of cremated prisoners was not detected precisely because the registry of deceased prisoners was destroyed at the end of the war. At the end of February 1945 it stopped burning in the Terezín crematorium and was buried in mass graves in the north wall.
The burning of dead prisoners in temporary incinerators is evidenced, among other things, by this report from Litoměřice:
"Investigating the local authority found that former political prisoners, either executed or tortured in a concentration camp
in Terezín or at work in the “Richard” and “Esla B” plants in Litoměřice, they were burned in a makeshift crematorium in Litoměřice
and Brickworks in Michalovice Street 14.
Crematorium was built in December 1944 by former political prisoners working in the "Elsa B" and "Richard" races. It lies to the southeast
side of the brickworks, it is a small house of 20 x 8 m with a high chimney. The building has two entrances and is 2 m high
barbed wire.
Until May 1945, in the crematorium, Václav Pritzl, a German national, was employed as a stoker in Litoměřice.
in 1937 organized by a member of SDP and since 1939 was a member of the NSDAP.
The construction of the crematorium was designed and managed by the German Reich, Fritz of Berlin, who ordered Pritzl to put the ashes and bones back into the furnace. That said
Pritzl did only once, then dug behind the crematorium a grave to clean the ashes and bones.
Various parts of the bloody garments murdered were found on the spot, a white isosceles triangle is sewn on one blouse
SS No. 24014. The SS guards and guards seemed to have been holding a drinking pit as liquor bottles were found in the crematorium.
Access to the building was strictly forbidden, the guard service was held by SS members who often used firearms.
Pritzl worked for about 10-12 hours a day, even on Sundays,
with a salary of CZK 7.2 per hour. According to his testimony, up to 30-40
prisoners were burned daily in the crematorium.
Another investigation in the vicinity of the crematorium found that at night it was often possible to hear fire at certain intervals, suggesting that some of the victims were
executed directly in front of or near the crematorium.
........................ ”
Herztod was a name widely known to those who received an official report from the Small Fortress about the death of their loved ones. Death certificates on the death of prisoners in the Small Fortress exhibited since March 1, 1942 Mudr. Beno Kroenert as District Officer in Litoměřice on behalf of the Litomerice Police Officer. During the first executions dr. Kroenert, as he stated in his testimony, in the cause of death column: Execution by shot by K.H. Frank, which corresponded to the text of the execution order. However, these death certificates were returned, saying that only Execution can be written by shooting.
In 1944, doctors were officially ordered not to fill in the cause of death box in case of execution. But the imperial leader Himmler ordered that the execution by the Gestapo must be covered in the death certificate by a false diagnosis of the cause of death and was conveyed by dr. Kroenert, who had to follow him. Dr. Kroenert then wrote "Herztod" as a cause of death during execution.
A note from a book published in 1957 Small Fortress Terezín: Prisoners who died in the Small Fortress were burned in the Terezín crematorium, which was built when a concentration camp was set up from Terezín - the Nazis. The ashes were delivered back to the Small Fortress in cardboard boxes indicating whether they were male or female. In 1943, the boxes were stored in the room behind the reception office, later in the locker room. When the number of victims of Nazism increased rapidly, Jöckl put ashes in the canal and later the urns were thrown into the Ohře. Cremation furnaces and a room where the dead were experimentally dissected are preserved in the crematorium.
Only 300 urns were found in the fort after the liberation. In most cases, it was not determined whose ash was stored in the box. Jewish prisoners were working in the crematorium, who also carried the dead from the Small Fortress themselves. At the end of February, the ghetto stopped burning and after May 5 the crematorium was put into operation again. Indeed, the victims of the typhoid epidemic were burned, the ashes of which are also deposited at the National Cemetery at the Small Fortress.
Another investigation in the vicinity of the crematorium found that at night it was often possible to hear fire at certain intervals, suggesting that some of the victims were
executed directly in front of or near the crematorium.
........................ ”
Herztod was a name widely known to those who received an official report from the Small Fortress about the death of their loved ones. Death certificates on the death of prisoners in the Small Fortress exhibited since March 1, 1942 Mudr. Beno Kroenert as District Officer in Litoměřice on behalf of the Litomerice Police Officer. During the first executions dr. Kroenert, as he stated in his testimony, in the cause of death column: Execution by shot by K.H. Frank, which corresponded to the text of the execution order. However, these death certificates were returned, saying that only Execution can be written by shooting.
In 1944, doctors were officially ordered not to fill in the cause of death box in case of execution. But the imperial leader Himmler ordered that the execution by the Gestapo must be covered in the death certificate by a false diagnosis of the cause of death and was conveyed by dr. Kroenert, who had to follow him. Dr. Kroenert then wrote "Herztod" as a cause of death during execution.
A note from a book published in 1957 Small Fortress Terezín: Prisoners who died in the Small Fortress were burned in the Terezín crematorium, which was built when a concentration camp was set up from Terezín - the Nazis. The ashes were delivered back to the Small Fortress in cardboard boxes indicating whether they were male or female. In 1943, the boxes were stored in the room behind the reception office, later in the locker room. When the number of victims of Nazism increased rapidly, Jöckl put ashes in the canal and later the urns were thrown into the Ohře. Cremation furnaces and a room where the dead were experimentally dissected are preserved in the crematorium.
Only 300 urns were found in the fort after the liberation. In most cases, it was not determined whose ash was stored in the box. Jewish prisoners were working in the crematorium, who also carried the dead from the Small Fortress themselves. At the end of February, the ghetto stopped burning and after May 5 the crematorium was put into operation again. Indeed, the victims of the typhoid epidemic were burned, the ashes of which are also deposited at the National Cemetery at the Small Fortress.
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