The Department of Collections amasses primarily 3D objects and works of art. These include items relating to the persecution of the inmates (instruments of torture, weapons), their labor duty assignments (products made in the Ghetto workshops), their personal objects (prison clothes, dishes and cutlery), as well as objects created by the inmates during their free time activities (souvenirs, drawings, poems, sheet music). Covering items from all walks of the Ghetto’s cultural life – fine arts, music, arts and crafts, theater, literature including works by self-taught writers – the collection comprises paintings, drawings, musical scores, poems and illustrations. An important part of the collection is formed by documents on the cultural life in the Terezín Ghetto, primarily a representative set of memorial posters tracing the history of cultural activities in the Ghetto in the years 1941 – 1945. The periods of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy as well as World War I and World War II are represented in the collection by the militaria, army uniforms, medals, insignia and badges. As for the postwar era, this is illustrated predominantly by paintings, drawings and sculptures, works of art with anti-war and anti-fascist themes and artworks devoted to the Holocaust.
By December 31, 2010, the fund of the Department of Collections had as many as 12,316 inventory numbers. Most collection items are kept in the Small Fortress in the building of the Small Fortress Museum, while works of art and sheet music written by composers imprisoned in the Terezín Ghetto are deposited in the former Magdeburg Barracks in Terezín.
The collections of the Terezín Memorial consist primarily of objects acquired by gift or purchase from the former inmates, eventually their relatives; to a smaller extent by transfer from other institutions.
In the past few years, the number of new arrivals of collection items has not been that high. In addition to gifts, new acquisitions (mostly works of art) are offered to the Terezín Memorial for purchase by their owners or are bought in auction halls. Each object, whether a photograph, drawing, poem, call-up to transport, secret message or souvenir, is perceived as a great enrichment of the collections. Each new arrival discloses to our staff experts and other researchers a previously unknown fate, a memory or name of a person associated with the history of Terezín and the Second World War, thus helping to make a more comprehensive picture of the given era. Seen in this light, we would like to address all of you, who are able and willing to offer objects connected with the history of Terezín and World War II to our collections, to let us know of your intention by letter, phone call or e-mail message. Each offer will be welcome.