In February 1944, the SS embarked on a "beautification" (German: Verschönerung) campaign to prepare the ghetto for the Red Cross visit.
Many "prominent" prisoners and Danish Jews were re-housed in private, superior quarters.
The streets were renamed and cleaned; sham shops and a school were set up; the SS encouraged the prisoners to perform an increasing number of cultural activities, which exceeded that of an ordinary town in peacetime.
As part of the preparations, 7,503 people were sent to the family camp at Auschwitz in May; the transports targeted sick, elderly, and disabled people who had no place in the ideal Jewish settlement.

For the remaining prisoners conditions improved somewhat: according to one survivor, "The summer of 1944 was the best time we  had in Terezín.
Nobody thought of new transports."
On 23 June 1944, the visitors were led on a tour through the "Potemkin village"; they did not notice anything amiss and the ICRC representative, Maurice Rossel, reported that no one was deported from Theresienstadt.
Rabbi Leo Baeck, a spiritual leader at Theresienstadt, stated that "The effect on our morale was devastating.
We felt forgotten and forsaken."
In August and September, a propaganda film that became known as Der Führer schenkt den Juden eine Stadt ("The Führer Gives a City to the Jews"), was shot, but it was never distributed.

On 23 September, Eppstein, Zucker, and Murmelstein were told that Theresienstadt's war production was inadequate and as a consequence 5,000 Jews would be deported to a new labor camp run by Zucker.
On 27 September, Eppstein was arrested and shot at the Small Fortress for alleged breaches of the law.
Murmelstein became Jewish elder and retained the post until the end of the war.
The deportation of the majority of the remaining population to Auschwitz—18,401 people in eleven transports—commenced the next day and lasted until 28 October.

Previously, the self-administration had chosen the people to be deported but now the SS made the selections, ensuring that many members of the Jewish Council, Aufbaukommando workers, and cultural figures were deported and murdered at Auschwitz.
The first two transports removed all former Czechoslovak Army officers, who were thought to be a threat for causing an uprising at Theresienstadt.
By November, only 11,000 people were left at Theresienstadt, most of them elderly; 70% were female.
That month, the ashes of deceased prisoners were removed by women and children.
The remains of 17,000 people were dumped in the Eger River and the remainder of the ashes were buried in pits near Leitmeritz.
In February 1944, the SS embarked on a "beautification" (German: Verschönerung) campaign to prepare the ghetto for the Red Cross visit. Many "prominent" prisoners and Danish Jews were re-housed in private, superior quarters. The streets were renamed and cleaned; sham shops and a school were set up; the SS encouraged the prisoners to perform an increasing number of cultural activities, which exceeded that of an ordinary town in peacetime. As part of the preparations, 7,503 people were sent to the family camp at Auschwitz in May; the transports targeted sick, elderly, and disabled people who had no place in the ideal Jewish settlement.
For the remaining prisoners conditions improved somewhat: according to one survivor, "The summer of 1944 was the best time we  had in Terezín. Nobody thought of new transports." On 23 June 1944, the visitors were led on a tour through the "Potemkin village"; they did not notice anything amiss and the ICRC representative, Maurice Rossel, reported that no one was deported from Theresienstadt. Rabbi Leo Baeck, a spiritual leader at Theresienstadt, stated that "The effect on our morale was devastating. We felt forgotten and forsaken." In August and September, a propaganda film that became known as Der Führer schenkt den Juden eine Stadt ("The Führer Gives a City to the Jews"), was shot, but it was never distributed.
On 23 September, Eppstein, Zucker, and Murmelstein were told that Theresienstadt's war production was inadequate and as a consequence 5,000 Jews would be deported to a new labor camp run by Zucker. On 27 September, Eppstein was arrested and shot at the Small Fortress for alleged breaches of the law. Murmelstein became Jewish elder and retained the post until the end of the war. The deportation of the majority of the remaining population to Auschwitz—18,401 people in eleven transports—commenced the next day and lasted until 28 October.
Previously, the self-administration had chosen the people to be deported but now the SS made the selections, ensuring that many members of the Jewish Council, Aufbaukommando workers, and cultural figures were deported and murdered at Auschwitz. The first two transports removed all former Czechoslovak Army officers, who were thought to be a threat for causing an uprising at Theresienstadt. By November, only 11,000 people were left at Theresienstadt, most of them elderly; 70% were female. That month, the ashes of deceased prisoners were removed by women and children. The remains of 17,000 people were dumped in the Eger River and the remainder of the ashes were buried in pits near Leitmeritz.
Theresienstadt Ghetto