Administration Courtyard

Reception room where the prisoners' records were kept

The Administration Courtyard of the Small Fortress at Theresienstadt has rooms lining both sides of a yard where the offices of the prison were located. The first room on the left side of the court is the reception room, which is shown in the photograph above. It was called the Geschäftszimmer. Here the prisoners were registered and all their records were kept. This room was managed by the deputy prison commander, W. Schmidt, who was executed as a war criminal by the Allies after Germany was defeated.

Next to the reception room was the Wachstube or Guards' office, where the prisoners' letters were censored and the inmates were interrogated. The next room, which is number 5 on the tour, is the Commandant's office. The tour pamphlet says that the position of Commandant "was held throughout the war by Heinrich Jöckel who was notorius for his cruelty." Our tour guide delighted in telling us that Jöckel was imprisoned for a year in a cell formerly occupied by Jewish prisoners where he was forced to use the toilet formerly used by them. He was executed as a war criminal in 1946.

The next room, number 6 on the tour, is the clothing store where the prisoners were issued discarded uniforms of the armies defeated by the Germans. The man in charge of the store was K. Wacholz, who was sentenced to death after being tried by a Communist court in East Germany in 1968.

The doors to these three rooms are shown on the left in the photograph below. Our tour group was not shown the inside of the rooms on our visit. At the end of the Administration Courtyard is the "Arbeit Macht Frei" entrance into the First Courtyard, a T-shaped enclosure lined with prison cells. The second photograph below shows the Second Courtyard which is on the right side of the fortress as you enter; it is directly opposite the Administration Courtyard. Note that the walls are painted the same color of yellow.

Guard's office, Commandant's office, and clothing room are on the left

Second Courtyard had workshops where inmates worked

The locations shown in the photograps above are numbered and the numbers correspond to those on a map of the fortress. For example, the door to the Commandant's office has the number 3 to the left.

First Courtyard

Escape Route

The Long Tunnel

Execution Spot

Gate of Death

Commandant's House


Fourth Courtyard

Third Courtyard

Main Gate

Arbeit Macht Frei gate