Journey 11D3: The Three Capitals ... Terezin ...

DATE -- July 26, 2015

Cap 'n Baldy here!

    As we ride out of Prague, we pass a polished stone obelisk positioned at what appears to be a freeway onramp ... this obelisk was erected on the exact spot where Reinhard Heydrich, Nazi Reich-Protector of Czechoslovakia, was assassinated in May 1942 by British-trained Czech commandos. We learn that Heydrich is regarded by many historians as the darkest figure of the Nazi era ... he is remembered as a chief architect of the Final Solution, the plot to exterminate all Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe ... Hitler referred to Heydrich as "the man with the iron heart" ...

   This experience leads me to a personal memory...thirty years ago Robert Landis, a gifted playwright, actor and historian, wrote and presented an original play entitled "The Canaris Enigma", a story of German espionage and British codebreaking activities in World War II. Great car was taken to make sure the story was as historically accurate as possible. Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, Nazi Chief of Espionage, was the central character. Mr. Landis had himself served in Britain in the war. Several key characters on both the German and British sides were portrayed in this play. One of the characters was Reinhard Heydrich...

   I played the role of Reinhard Heydrich ...

Believe it or not, this is me ... Bob Brislin ... Baldy!

 

    I played Heydrich, as much as I was able to, as the true essence of evil ... not personally knowing at that time how true that assessment would prove to be.

   We ride on through lush green countryside to ...

TEREZIN ...

Therezienstadt if you prefer the name in German ...

Location of a prominent and notorious Nazi concentration camp in the extermination system Heydrich created ...

 The Star of David above the cemetery at the Small Fortress which served as a Gestapo interrogation center and prisoner quarters ...

Arbeit Macht Frei ... Work Makes You Free ... the inscription above the entrance of many Nazi concentration camps ...

   The statistics, as we hear them, are horrific and well-known ...

• 155,000 entered the camp
•   35,000 died at the camp, many from beatings and disease
•   88,000 were shipped out to die in the gas chambers at Auschwitz, Treblinka and other death camps
•   32,000 survived, but many died from disease
•   15,000 children were brought here
•   132 of these children survived

Yellow Star of David collage at the Jewish Ghetto Museum here ... Terezin served as a "transit station" for Jews and others being sent to the death camps ...

    Mural of drawings by children imprisoned at Terezin ... this camp was the site of a massive Nazi propaganda campaign to convince the International Red Cross that conditions herein were humane ... the Nazis succeeded.

                                           Drawing by a child at Terezin ...

 Portion of a huge scroll inscribed with the names of children who perished as a result of having been taken here ...

                                  Figurines of children on their way to Terezin ...

                The Unnamed ... a memorial to those buried in mass graves here ...

     We are silent as we visit the Ghetto Museum, the Cemetery and the Small Fortress ... we enter the stark cells used to house prisoners in horribly overcrowded conditions ... we see the cells used for Gestapo interrogation ... we crouch and walk though an eerie dark 600-yard long tunnel that opens on the place where 350 executions took place ...

   As a gifted high school singer, Christy Mackenzie had the opportunity ... or burden depending how it's viewed ... of singing with an elite chorus performing Franz Waxman's Song of Terezin using music that had been composed by prisoners here ... I believe she said Dr. Waxman conducted the performance ... this visit to Terezin had a special significance for her.

----------------------------------------------

    Before our return to Vienna, we sing Antonin Dvorak's "Goin' Home" in one of the cells where prisoners were housed. We are sad as our director, Liz Virkler, has contracted a respiratory infection and cannot join us on this part of our tour. Dr. Chris Cook conducts us in the singing ... a most moving experience for each of us!

  Our European adventure is approaching its end ...

  Please stay with us as we have a few more adventures to share ...


 Affectionately,


 Baldy aka Bob