Cart used by forced labor prisoners at Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp

Two wheeled wooden handcart used by inmates while working as forced laborers at the Small Fortress in Theresienstadt (Terezín) ghetto-labor camp northwest of Prague, Czechoslovakia. Carts like this were used to transport food and other heavy loads. Special workers also used them to transport bodies of ghetto residents who had died of starvation and disease. After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, the town of Terezín was renamed Theresienstadt and a ghetto and camp were established in November 1941.The camp served as a transit center for Jews en route to killing centers in the east, and as a Nazi propaganda tool to present the fair treatment of their Jewish prisoners. In 1943, representatives from the Red Cross toured the specially prepared sections of the camp lined with fake stores and shops. The ruse thoroughly convinced the inspectors that life in the camps was pleasant enough and the prisoners were being treated humanely. In reality, the prisoners lived in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, with little food or medicine. The high death rate necessitated the building of a crematorium to incinerate the bodies. Approximately 140,000 Jews passed through Theresienstadt before it was liberated on May 8, 1945. Of them, approximately 33,000 perished in the camp and 90,000 were deported to be murdered at other camps and killing centers.