Theresienstadt represents one of the most sobering places in the Central European nation. This old 18^th-century Hapsburg fortress built by emperor Joseph II never really faced hostile situations (other than its use as a prison in the late 1th century) until 1940, when it was occupied by the Gestapo. It was then promptly converted into a clandestine prison, first intended for politicos who dared to stand up to the Nazi war machine. Later, Theresienstadt was expanded to fill all the walls of the historic site, and transformed into a labor camp for Jews being deported from all over central and western Europe. While it was paraded to the outside world as a retirement city for elderly Jewish people who couldn’t work in the east, the place was secretly used to rubber stamp and sort transfers to the killing chambers of Auschwitz and Treblinka. Today, the horrors of the Holocaust can be visited in the company of dedicated Theresienstadt tour guides, who reveal its dark secrets between its barracks, museums and memorials.