A day at Theresienstadt concentration camp & ghetto

Theresienstadt concentration camp is located one hour north-northwest of Prague.

The day before two friends from Sweden had arrived in Prague and it was one of their idea to visit Theresienstadt. After some research we set out at 10:00 and headed towards Terezín. Already ten minutes in to the journey i ran in to trouble with the Jumbo. After fueling up Jumbo we where to continue on our way to Terezín. But my Jeep had other plans.

Put the keys in the ignition and turned the key. Nothing happened at all. There were some kind of electrical problem, luckily i had brought my jump starter. After looking through the wiring to make sure that it was intact we hooked it up. Suddenly everything was working again! Even though we were not able to idle for some reason. After a minute or two we were able to get it to idle. I made sure it was safe to keep on driving, and it seemed like it was. I noticed that after a few minutes that the voltage was very erratic. My suspicion was that my battery (a old Saab battery), was not holding charge and that i was driving directly off the alternator. But we safely arrived in Terezín.

Theresienstadt (the area is called Terezín) was both a concentration camp and a ghetto during the second world war. It was a strange feeling to walk among the seemingly normal houses in what was a pretty little town before the war. The ghetto was in the town on Terezín and the concentration camp/prison was a km outside the city.

The Theresienstadt concentration camp was not built for the Nazi-Germany, it is a old fort. Filled with old tunnels, the one pictured was a astonishing 500 meters. A long way to go crouched for a giant like me.

After a few hours of walking around in both the ghetto and the small fortress we came back to the Jeep and where to leave, except that my battery was dead. The portable jump starter still had lots of juice left. So fired right up after connecting it. I felt that i did not want to have a dead battery, so a stopped at a Shell gas-station alongside the road and picked up a new Banner 72Ah battery. I did not know anything about the brand, but i know that i it’s also available in Sweden and have a okay warranty, so felt safe buying one knowing that always have close to a new warranty unit via Shell. As soon as i get home to Sweden i will redo the wiring in the Jeep with new battery cables and terminals, and if the wallet allows it I’ll also install a dual battery setup with a 72Ah starting battery and a larger 80+Ah deep cycle secondary battery.