Gedenkstätte Hohenschönhausen

The Hohenschönhausen Memorial is located in Lichtenberg behind a four-meter-high wall and served as the central remand prison for the State Security from 1951 to 1990. Approximately 10,000 people were incarcerated here. Today, eyewitnesses who were themselves imprisoned lead visitors through the cells and interrogation rooms, making the GDR dictatorship immediately comprehensible.

Hohenschönhausen Memorial: The Forbidden Restricted Area in Lichtenberg

The Hohenschönhausen Memorial is located in the Lichtenberg district of Alt-Hohenschönhausen, quite a distance from the city center and surrounded by a four-meter-high wall topped with barbed wire. On GDR city maps, the area was a blank spot, as the entire complex belonged to a sealed-off restricted area that even residents were not allowed to enter. The history of the site began in May 1945, when the Soviet NKVD established Special Camp No. 3 here. Approximately 20,000 people were interned in this camp; about 1,000 of them died, and it was dissolved in October 1946. From 1946, the central Soviet remand prison for East Germany was built in the cellar, which prisoners had to construct themselves in the winter of 1946/47 and which earned the name “U-Boot” (submarine) due to its windowless cells. From April 1951 to January 1990, the Ministry for State Security used the facility as its central remand prison. In addition to the prison, the area includes several administrative buildings that now house the permanent exhibitions.

Cells, Interrogation Rooms, and Tours with Eyewitnesses

At the end of the 1950s, a new prison building was added, which became operational in 1960 and comprised over 100 cells and 120 interrogation rooms. These very rooms now form the core of a tour: the underground cell block with its 68 windowless chambers, the prison corridors, the transport vehicles, and the stark offices where interrogators tried to force confessions for days and nights. The former prison can only be visited as part of a guided tour, which lasts about an hour and a half and is accompanied by an introductory film. A large portion of these tours are led by former prisoners who recount their own time in captivity. The permanent exhibitions in the main building, however, are freely accessible and contextualize the history of political persecution. By 1989, approximately 10,000 people had been incarcerated in the remand prison; it was closed on October 3, 1990, and since 1992, the buildings have been listed as historical monuments. The first public viewings took place in 1993, and regular guided tours began in July 1994. Thematic tours delve into specific aspects, such as the prison hospital or the women’s labor detachment. The Hohenschönhausen Memorial offers group tours in ten languages.