Between 1933 and 1945, political opponents of the National Socialist regime were executed in the Berlin Plötzensee prison. The German Resistance Memorial Center commemorates victims of National Socialist judiciary with an exhibition at the historic site.
The Berlin state prison Plötzensee, established in 1897, was used as a prison and central execution site by the National Socialists from 1933. Already since the end of the 19th century, it had been used as a place of carrying out death sentences by the German judiciary. The Plötzensee prison was particularly suitable for admitting large numbers of prisoners. From 1933 on, the National Socialist regime increasingly persecuted political opponents. In the first years, primarily communists and social democrats were sentenced by various courts to long terms of imprisonment or to death. At the time, Plötzensee also adopted the function of a custody prison for political criminal trials. Starting around 1940, more and more death sentences were administered even for minor offences. In 1943 alone, more than 1,100 executions took place at Plötzensee. Many of those killed were members of the »Red Orchestra« and the »Kreisau Circle« resistance groups. Many of these people were interrogated by the Gestapo and severely abused prior to being put into custody. In the months following the failed assassination attempt on Hitler's life on July 20, 1944, many of those involved in the plotting were executed. Executions were performed by guillotine or hanging in the so-called »House of the Dead« - a small brick shed on the premises. Located in a separate, windowless room were the guillotine and a steel beam on which up to eight people could be hanged simultaneously. The prison complex was hit by bombs in September 1943, upon which the so-called »bloody nights« took place, during which many executions were carried out. In order to prevent any getaways, the authorities had around 250 prisoners hanged within a few days.
In all, around 2,890 people were executed at Plötzensee prison between 1933 and 1945. Amongst them were many people persecuted for political reasons from all over Germany. Around half of those executed came from Europe's occupied states, of that a little under half were from Czechoslovakia. Many of the Czech victims were resistance fighters who had been sentenced to death by the »People's Court« in Berlin. Additionally, there were many prisoners of war and forced labourers among those killed in Berlin-Plötzensee.
Until this day, a correctional facility is located on the premises of the former state prison. In 1951, West Berlin's regional government decided to set up a memorial based around the former brick shed in which executions had taken place. The memorial was designed between 1951/52 and officially opened in 1952. The room where executions took place is now a memorial room. The memorial is supervised by the German Resistance Memorial Center. In the years 2002/2003, the memorial site was reconstructed in a manner appropriate to the historic site. Since 2003, there is a permanent exhibition entitled »Documentation on the death penalty at Plötzensee«.
- Name
- Gedenkstätte Plötzensee
- Address
-
Hüttigpfad
13627 Berlin - Phone
- +49 (0)30 269 950 00
- Fax
- +49 (0)30 269 950 10
- Web
- http://www.gedenkstaette-ploetzensee.de
- sekretariat@gdw-berlin.de
- Open
- daily 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.
- Possibilities
- Permanent exhibition, brochure available in several languages, guided tours