Theresienstadt family camp

Theresienstadt family camp
Concentration camp
Ruins of BIIb BIIb highlighted on an aerial photograph of Auschwitz II-Birkenau
Known for	Largest massacre of Czechoslovak citizens in history
Location	Auschwitz II-Birkenau
Commandant	Fritz Buntrock
Operational	8 September 1943 – 12 July 1944
Inmates	Jews
Number of inmates	17,517
Killed	14,000
Notable inmates	Fredy Hirsch, Dina Babbitt, Otto Dov Kulka, Yehuda Bacon, Zuzana Růžičková

The Theresienstadt family camp (Czech: Terezínský rodinný tábor, German: Theresienstädter Familienlager), also known as the Czech family camp, consisted of a group of Jewish inmates from the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia, who were held in the BIIb section of the Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration camp from 8 September 1943 to 12 July 1944. The Germans created the camp to mislead the outside world about the Final Solution.

Deported from the ghetto in seven transports in September and December 1943, and May 1944, the prisoners were not subjected to selection on arrival, an unusual situation in Auschwitz, and were granted a number of "privileges", including the creation of a children's block that provided the only attempt at organized education at Auschwitz. The living conditions nevertheless remained poor and the mortality rate was high. Most of the inhabitants who did not die of starvation or disease were murdered during the camp liquidations on 8–9 March and 10–12 July 1944. The first liquidation was the largest massacre of Czechoslovak citizens in history. Of the 17,517 Jews deported to the family camp, only 1,294 survived the war.