(12:29pm Jan 13, 2012)

When Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker, tweets it and John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats retweets, you know it’s worth checking out. What is it?

The Nazi transition camp/ghetto Terezín [pronounced tehr-eh-ZEEN], also known as Theresienstadt [pronounced tehr-AY-zee-enn-shtadt], was established in 1941 to hold Jews from occupied Bohemia before their deportation to the death camps. It is widely known as the site of the staged performances that the Nazis used to deceive Red Cross visitors in 1944 and subsequently exploited for a propaganda film.

But that is only one chapter in a much larger story.

From Jan 9 to Feb 16, 92nd Street Y presents a multi-disciplinary series that explores the cultural significance of Terezín, where 144,000 Jews were sent and 88,000 deported to extermination camps; the series illuminates their art and the legacy of their spirit, which endure.

Despite Nazi terror and the desperate conditions common to the ghetto, the Terezín internees produced for themselves a rich and creative cultural community, full of great music, art and educational activity. Eventually, the Nazis exploited this haven of the human spirit for their own self-serving purposes and propaganda, which has obscured the remarkable and inspirational legacy of Terezín.

Learn more and get specially priced $18 tickets to the uptown 92Y events using this link (discount code: terezin18) or 2 for 1 tickets to Will to Learn: A Day of Talks Honoring the Great Minds of Terezin at 92YTribeca (discount code: tztwo).