The Terezín Memorial specialises in preserving evidence of history of the Nazi repression apparatus in the Czech Republic, and particularly in Terezín and Litoměřice. To a lesser extent it also considers the history of Terezín prior to the Second World War. The Memorial’s collections may be divided into four groups: written documents, pictorial material, three-dimensional items and works of art created by prisoners, and anti-war art by post-war and contemporary artists.
The drawing together of these collections benefits historical studies of the Memorial, the preparation of expositions and exhibitions, and the activities of the education department, as well as being useful to historical researchers from other institutions and others with related interests.
The foundations of the collections were laid by those items obtained from various institutions and former prisoners in connection with the creation of the first museum exhibition, which was opened in May 1949. The comprised primarily documents and objects brought from the Military Historical Institute in Prague. Care for the collections gained a firmer footing, however, only in 1960, when a professional member of staff was taken on and the first inventory book drawn up. Initially the three-dimensional pieces and written material were looked after at the same site, which later became the foundation of the collections department. In 1965 the archive was separated off, and three years later the photographic was separated from this. The archive and photographic archive are now part of the documentation department.
The archive collections are not large, because by the time the Memorial had started to make acquisitions much evidence that would have been of interest had already been gathered in other archives, both in this country and abroad (e.g. at the Jewish Museum in Prague, the State Central Archive in Prague and Yad Vashem in Jerusalem).
The collections of the Terezín Memorial were built up primarily from items obtained as gifts or purchased from former prisoners (or their relatives), and to a lesser extent articles transferred from other institutions.
In recent years the growth in terms of new acquisitions has not been great. In addition to gifts, the collections have absorbed items (mainly artworks) offered for sale to the Terezín Memorial, and purchased at auction. Every item, whether a photograph, a drawing, a poem, a transport permit, a clandestine message or a memoir, enriches the collection immeasurably; they allow scientific staff and other researchers to reveal the fates, recollections or names of individuals associated with the history of Terezín and the Second World War, thereby allowing a more coherent picture of the given period. We would like to take this opportunity to ask all those who have the opportunity and desire to offer items linked to the history of Terezín and the Second World War for the collections to advise us of their availability by letter, telephone or e-mail: every offer is welcome.