4 . Replica of the Terezín Ghetto ´ s dormitory in the former Magdeburg Barracks .
Ghetto and the Final Solution of the Jewish Question did not completely stop , though it was not practically possible for the researchers to publish the results of their work . This situation was similar to that of researchers working in the Jewish Museum in Prague . However , after democratic change came to the country , this previous fine work and research enabled the staff to establish the Ghetto Museum quickly and to present the history of the Holocaust . The regime ’ s anti-Zionist orientation continued in the 1980s . Nevertheless , a memorial plaque for the Jews transported to Terezín was unveiled , a small exhibition about the Holocaust was created in the Crematorium at the Jewish Cemetery in Terezín and a scholarly conference about the mass murder of the prisoners of the Terezín family camp in Auschwitz was held in March 1989 . These events were the first signals of the coming changes .
The “ Velvet Revolution ” in November 1989 created a new situation in Czech society and in the orientation of state policy , including a new attitude towards Jews and Judaism . After 40 years , relations between Czechoslovakia and Israel reverted to what they had been before . Many former Terezín Ghetto survivors came to Czechoslovakia for the first time since 1948 . Survivors from Czechoslovakia established the Terezín Initiative , an organisation supporting remembrance activities , research and education on the Holocaust . From the beginning , the Terezín Initiative supported the activities of the new leaders and staff of the Terezín Memorial by helping to establish the Ghetto Museum and develop research on the history of Holocaust . These activities were also strongly supported by new Czechoslovak President Václav Havel , who became a member of the Board of Directors of the new Ghetto Museum . Václav
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Observing Memories Issue 7