National cemetery, Terezín

The Terezín National Cemetery is located in Terezín in front of the Small Fortress. It was founded after World War II at the instigation of the survivors of the victims of the Small Fortress and built between 1945 and 1958. The cemetery has a triangular shape and is located between the southern side of the western access road to the main gate of the Small Fortress and the northern side of the former E 55 road from Prague to Teplice, and is enclosed to the east by the Little Fortress moat. It consists of 2 386 skeleton and urn graves, where the victims of the Nazi regime from the Small Fortress are buried, as well as victims from the Terezín Ghetto and the Litoměřice Concentration Camp. The other victims are buried in mass graves, of which there are 5 in the National Cemetery, marked by stone stelae. In total, about 10,000 people are buried there. The graves are marked with numbers and possibly the names of those buried, if the date of birth or death is known, this is also added. Red roses grow by each grave. Two religious symbols are erected above the cemetery: a Christian cross and a Star of David. On the tombstones we encounter stones left by Jewish visitors. Every year in the month of May, a memorial ceremony is held here to commemorate all the people who perished in Terezín during World War II, called the Terezín Triduum.