Documentation and memorial site of the BStU in the former custody of the Stasi in Rostock
Coordinates: 54 ° 5 '5.1 " N , 12 ° 8' 4.4" E
The Documentation and Memorial Site (DuG) in the former remand prison of the Stasi district administration in Rostock addresses the GDR Ministry for State Security (MfS) and commemorates its victims. It is one of the best preserved pre-trial detention centers of the MfS. The DuG is embedded in the documentation center of the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania for the victims of dictatorships in Germany and was operated until August 2017 by the Rostock branch of the Federal Commissioner for Stasi Records (BStU) in cooperation with the University of Rostock . DuG has been closed for renovation since 2017.
Location
The memorial is located in Hermannstraße 34b (access via the ramp to the supermarket or August Road / Greenway) near the city center of Rostock on the former site of the district administration Rostock of the Stasi, the large part of today Rostock Regional Court and the University of Rostock is used .
Exhibitions and events
In the memorial, former prison cells, shower rooms, the courtyard with the so-called "tiger cages", dark cells to isolate the prisoners in the basement and, within guided tours, a walk-in prisoner transport car of the state security of the type Barkas B 1000 can be viewed.
On the first floor of the prison wing there is a permanent exhibition of the BStU on the activities of the Stasi, everyday prison life and the Peaceful Revolution of 1989. In particular, the methods of the MfS, the individual fates of political prisoners , the fate of escape with reference to the sea border, a replicated one-man U -Boat from an attempted escape from the GDR , smell samples , eavesdropping and observation technology, material for forging letters from the Stasi and more. In addition, there are constantly changing exhibitions on various historical subjects related to the GDR on the first floor. The permanent exhibition can also be made accessible to foreign visitors with English-language accompanying material and audio guides .
In addition, readings, lectures, film screenings, guided tours and student project days with a thematic focus are regularly held at the memorial.
history
After the districts were established in the GDR in 1952, the State Security maintained its headquarters in the Rostock district, initially in the Rostocker Hof , today a shopping center in the main shopping street of Rostock, Kröpeliner Straße . In the grounds behind it on Schwaanschen Straße there was a remand prison that was used jointly by the Stasi and the People's Police until the end of the 1950s and later only by the police.
At the end of the 1950s, the Stasi began to build their new district administration nearby. Between 1958 and 1960, the remand prison was built as part of this building complex and was designed for 110 prisoners in around 50 cells. Between 1960 and 1989, more than 4,800 prisoners, mostly political prisoners, were held there until they were sentenced. Many of them should be punished for wanting to leave the GDR.
On December 4, 1989 civil rights activists occupied the building complex of the district administration, sealed the rooms and thus ended the destruction of files. A delegation also visited the pre-trial detention facility, but hardly met any prisoners, as most of them had been released with the amnesty of October 1989.
Even after reunification , the prison was used as a pre-trial detention center for a short time. This period resulted in regrettable renovations, for example the demolition of the dividing walls between the cells in the Freihof and the installation of a grille in the cell corridor on the first floor, which was dismantled piece by piece.
Since 1998 the remand prison has been part of the documentation center for the victims of German dictatorships in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which also includes the former remand prison of the state security on Demmlerplatz in Schwerin. From October 1999 to August 2017 the DuG was open to regular visitors. Most of the listed complex of the former district administration has been renovated step by step since 2010.
Entrance to the site of the former Stasi district administration on Grüner Weg
Cell wing of the former underground detention center on the first floor
View of the Freihof with the guard passage
Showcase with Stasi utensils; u. a. for forging holiday postcards
Showcase with Stasi utensils; u. a. Odor preserves
literature
- Thomas Ammer , Hans-Joachim Memmler (Ed.): State Security in Rostock: Target Groups, Methods, Resolution. Cologne 1991, ISBN 3-8046-0337-8 .
- Rahel Frank, Martin Klähn, Christoph Wunnicke: The resolution. The end of state security in the three northern districts. Schwerin 2010, ISBN 978-3-933255-31-0 .
- Volker Höffer: The opponent has strength. MfS and SED in the Rostock district. (= The disempowerment of state security in the regions. Part 4). Berlin 1997, DNB 952084228 .
- Jenny Schekahn, Tobias Wunschik: The remand prison of the State Security in Rostock. Investigations, cell informers and prison conditions in the Honecker era. Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-942130-74-5 .
Web links
- Website of the memorial
- Information on the documentation and memorial site of the BStU in the former MfS remand prison in Rostock
Individual evidence
- ↑ bstu.de Documentation and Memorial Site Rostock
- ↑ Heike Engel: Renovation of a documentation and memorial site in Rostock. December 3, 2018, accessed February 15, 2019 .
- ↑ Renovation work in the former Rostock Stasi prison . t-online.de. December 6, 2018. Retrieved September 25, 2019.