Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial
It would be hard to find another site in Germany so intricately linked with the 44-year history of political persecution in the Soviet Occupation Zone and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) as the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial.
In June 1945, the Soviet Secret Police took over a former canteen block and food store in the north-east of Berlin and turned it into a detainment and transit camp called 'Special Camp No. 3'. After the camp was closed in October 1946, the cellar was converted into an underground cell section that served as the main Soviet Secret Police prison for detention and interrogation in Germany – this was known by the prisoners as the “U-Boot” or submarine.
In 1951 the East German Ministry of State Security (MfS – or “Stasi”) took over the prison, added a new prison building and, until 1989, used the site as its main remand centre. Thousands of political prisoners passed through this jail, including nearly all the prominent figures opposing the GDR regime.
The main Stasi service units responsible for prisons and criminal prosecutions were conveniently located in nearby Genslerstrasse, close to the prison: the Main Investigation Department (HA IX) and the Central Prison Department Headquarters (Dept. XIV), which reported directly to Erich Mielke, Minister of State Security. These two departments monitored and directed the work of all the investigation departments and remand prisons in the 15 local authority areas comprising the GDR. The remand prison and restricted area formed a kind of headquarters of communist repression in East Germany.
The remand prison was located within a restricted military area hermetically sealed off from the outside world. This area, which never appeared on any maps of East Berlin, was home to a number of other Stasi service units: the Operative Technical Sector (OTS), whose tasks included, for example, building bugging systems; Sector HA IX/11, responsible for a secret Nazi archive; and a part of the Espionage Data Processing Centre (HVA). Until 1974, labour camp "X" was located directly next to the prison. The labour camp used already sentenced prisoners as forced labour for the Ministry of State Security.
The main Stasi service units responsible for prisons and criminal prosecutions were conveniently located in nearby Genslerstrasse, close to the prison: the Main Investigation Department (HA IX) and the Central Prison Department Headquarters (Dept. XIV), which reported directly to Erich Mielke, Minister of State Security. These two departments monitored and directed the work of all the investigation departments and remand prisons in the 15 local authority areas comprising the GDR. The remand prison and restricted area formed a kind of headquarters of communist repression in East Germany.
The remand prison was located within a restricted military area hermetically sealed off from the outside world. This area, which never appeared on any maps of East Berlin, was home to a number of other Stasi service units: the Operative Technical Sector (OTS), whose tasks included, for example, building bugging systems; Sector HA IX/11, responsible for a secret Nazi archive; and a part of the Espionage Data Processing Centre (HVA). Until 1974, labour camp "X" was located directly next to the prison. The labour camp used already sentenced prisoners as forced labour for the Ministry of State Security.
There are many websites which contain information and stories about the remand prison, including
Here are a few photos from our tour of the prison.
The "U-Boot"
Communal cell - for up to 12 remand prisoners
Single cell - with toilet (bucket)
Water torture cell - with padded walls
New cell block - with access to daylight
With surveillance of prisoners and their guards
The interrogation "suites"
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