Improvements Implemented By Inmates
Ex-prisoner Friedrich Schlaefrig describes how the residents with the assistance of the Germans, overcame the lack of water to the town; "We had no water system in Theresienstadt... a number of wells were contaminated in a short time with typhoid fever. That was the reason that we had to close a number of wells, and had to undertake to extend the existing water pipe system. That was really a great piece of public works created under Jewish inventiveness and by Jewish labor. They expanded the water supply system, and have achieved that we not only produced for the people good drinking water or, at least, not objectionable drinking water, but that also the toilet installations could be flushed with water, so that these unhygienic conditions were removed... The Germans have permitted it, and we even obtained through them the material, because otherwise it would have been impossible..."
After this a Fire Department with an acting Fire Chief was established from the Jewish residents using the newly created water system.
Read more about this topic: Theresienstadt Concentration Camp
Famous quotes containing the word improvements:
“A country whose buildings are of wood, can never increase in its improvements to any considerable degree.... Whereas when buildings are of durable materials, every new edifice is an actual and permanent acquisition to the state, adding to its value as well as to its ornament.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)