TEREZIN, CZECH REPUBLIC — The Tennessee men’s basketball players trudged back to the team bus after walking the grounds of Holocaust horror the previous three hours.

Throughout Sunday morning’s tour of the Terezin concentration camp, the players asked questions at every turn, and made exclamations of wonderment, trying to imagine how anyone could have endured the Jewish holding community set up by the Nazis in 1941.

Tennessee preseason All-American Chris Lofton was anxious to leave after the emotionally charged field trip.

“I just say get me back home; I like where I’m at in the States,’’ Lofton said. “No way does this happen again. Nobody has that much power or that kind of following. Hitler had to be a very influential person to get so many people to do the wrong thing.’’

But it did happen, and seeing was believing for the Vols.

“It put a picture to what we’ve learned in school, just to see how devastating this was and how total families were wiped out,’’ UT sophomore Duke Crews said. “To kill that many people for no reason is heartbreaking.’’

Many of the 80,000 Czech Jews who died in the Holocaust were killed or died while at Terezin, a prison camp that served as a stopover before the Jews were shipped to the death camps in Poland.

The outside of the camp — originally built as an Austrian fort — is innocent, nestled in beautiful Czech countryside, where fruit trees and flowers abound.

But inside the walls lay a tragic story.

“Just seeing the big shower room, that was horrible, and the way they put 160 people, side-by-side in bunk beds like that,’’ UT sophomore Ramar Smith said. “Man, that was bad. And those rooms, just dark rooms, and dirt floors.’’

Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl, who is Jewish, said the trip may have offered the most valuable lesson of the Vols’ 11-day European trip.

“This visit to the Terezin Concentration Camp was probably the most important lesson of our trip,’’ Pearl said in his exclusive column for the News Sentinel. “Who knows what lasting effects this will have on my players.

“It’s my hope that when they’re faced with a difficult decision of what’s right or wrong, even if it’s an unpopular choice, that they will make the best decision.’’

Sophomore Josh Tabb was the first player to come to Pearl in search of answers for the tragedy that unfolded on the grounds he stood.

“I asked Coach Pearl why it happened, but no, there’s really not a good explanation for it,’’ Tabb said. “Coach Pearl tried to explain how his people were wealthy and rich, but he said he didn’t really understand how it could happen, either.’’

One thing the African-American players did come to appreciate was what both Pearl’s and their ancestors had to overcome.

“I believe that helps Coach Pearl relate to us, him being from a minority background, too,’’ Crews said. “There’s a definite connection there.’’

Sophomore Wayne Chism said he left angry that many of the Germans who ran the camp were featured in a museum.

“Why have people in a museum who were killing people?’’ Chism said. “These people were killing and putting 60 of them in one room, and then outside they were living in mansions with a pool in the back yard.

“I definitely have an appreciation for it, and I respect it’s Coach Pearl’s background and Steven’s background.’’

Steven Pearl, along with his father, grew teary-eyed on many occasions on the visit.

“It’s emotional. You hear about it, and you see pictures, but when you’re face to face with it, and it’s the real thing, it’s different,’’ Steven Pearl said. “This was kind of a bonding experience with many of my teammates. Their families endured similar things; with the Holocaust, and the Civil Rights Movement, we can all appreciate what our families have gone through.

“We think we have it bad sometimes, but you see something like this, and you realize we have it much better than many, many others. This was a growing experience.’’

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.