heresienstadt was a unique facility in the Nazi camp system. Theresienstadt served as a transit camp for Jews on their way to the killing centers and labor camps in the east. It also served as a ghetto-labor camp where thousands were incarcerated, and it was used as a holding center for the sick and elderly who the SS hoped would die before being transferred to a killing center. This unique ghetto-labor camp was used by the Nazi regime as propaganda to make others believe that concentration camps were humane living and work centers for Jewish and political prisoners. Theresienstadt had a rich cultural life because of the Jewish artists, writers, and musicians interned behind its walls. However, the conditions at Theresienstadt were terrible and led to many deaths from disease and starvation. Before the Soviet Army liberated the area, SS officials gave the care of the camp and the remaining 30,000 prisoners over to the Red Cross.