In the summer of 1933, the Gestapo set up its own prison in the newly created Secret State Police Office. It was located in the basement of the south wing of the building at Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse 8, which originally was built as an arts and crafts trade school.
Many of the prisoners detained in the house prison were politically persecuted persons, from whose interrogation the Gestapo hoped to gain special insight. Among these individuals were numerous figures of the German resistance, as well as foreign opponents of the Nazi regime. During the interrogations, many prisoners were tortured. Some committed suicide.
It is estimated that several thousand prisoners were held in the house prison between 1933 and 1945. For most inmates, the prison represented just one, often the first, stage of a long journey of suffering in detention centres and concentration camps.
The exhibition will be presented in the Special Exhibitions Space as well as on the outdoor area of the Topography of Terror Documentation Centre.
Organiser: Topographie des Terrors