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Memorial and Education Centre Andreasstraße

The Memorial and Education Centre Andreasstraße (German: Gedenk- und Bildungsstätte Andreasstraße), is a museum in Erfurt, Germany, which is housed in a former prison used by the East German Ministry for State Security (Stasi). It is informally known as the Stasi Museum.

Gedenk- und Bildungsstätte Andreasstraße
Memorial and Education Centre Andreasstraße
Memorial and Education Centre Andreasstraße, Erfurt
Location within Thuringia
Memorial and Education Centre Andreasstraße, Erfurt
Memorial and Education Centre Andreasstraße, Erfurt (Germany)
Established4 December 2013 (2013-12-04)
LocationAndreasstraße 37, Erfurt
Coordinates50°58′43″N 11°01′24″E / 50.97861°N 11.02333°E / 50.97861; 11.02333
TypePrison Museum
OwnerStiftung Ettersberg
Public transit access
  • Tram lines 3, 4 and 6
  • Bus line 90.
  • Stop: Domplatz (Cathedral Square)
Websitestiftung-ettersberg.de

From 1952 until 1989, over 5000 political prisoners were held on remand and interrogated in the Andreasstraße prison, which was one of 17 Stasi remand prisons in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).[1][2] The museum was opened in 2013 as a memorial to repression and resistance in the Thuringia region during the GDR dictatorship. Its permanent exhibitions focus on the experiences of the prison's inmates, the activities of the Stasi, life under the dictatorship, and the Peaceful Revolution which led to German reunification.[3]

On 4 December 1989, local citizens stormed and occupied the prison as well as the neighbouring Stasi district headquarters to stop the mass destruction of Stasi files.[1] Some Stasi employees were thrown out of upper floor windows and beaten after falling to the streets below, but there were no deaths or serious injuries. It was the first of many occupations of Stasi premises throughout the country, and it was a milestone in the Peaceful Revolution.[4][5] It led to the preservation and opening of Stasi files so that citizens could see what information was held on them and so that the crimes of the Stasi could be exposed.[6]

The prison was opened in 1878 and held political prisoners for several different political regimes until 1989. It was closed in 2002.[7]

The Memorial and Education Centre Andreasstrasse is managed by the Stiftung Ettersberg.

The prison in the pre-GDR period edit

1871–1933 edit

 
Courthouse, Erfurt, completed 1879, facing the Cathedral square

Shortly after German unification in 1871, a new courthouse and prison ensemble were planned, as the city had grown rapidly from a population of 16,000 in 1802 to 100,000. During the 19th century, prison had become the most important form of criminal punishment in Prussia, in preference to corporal punishment which had previously been favoured.[8]

The new buildings were constructed on a park neighbouring Erfurt's Cathedral Square and below the town fortress, Petersberg Citadel.[9] Building began in 1874; the three-storey, red-brick, neo-gothic prison came into use in October 1878. The stone-clad courthouse around the corner from it opened nine months later in 1879.[10]

The new prison initially accommodated 110 male and female inmates. It was further reconfigured and by 1911 the average occupancy was 198: 162 men in 34 cells and 36 women in 8 cells.[3] It served as a remand prison for people awaiting trial and for holding those convicted of property offences, fraud and violent crime.[11] People were also incarcerated on political charges such as Lèse-majesté and going on strike. Newspapers editors who published articles in favour of social democracy could also be imprisoned.[10]

After World War I, during the Weimar Republic era, considerable renovation and modernisation work was carried out using prisoners' labour. By 1932 the average number of inmates was 253.[12]

Nazi era 1933–1945 edit

 
Andreasstraße 37, Erfurt. The former prison opened in 1878.

During the Nazi era there was widespread abuse of police powers. People could be arrested without reason and held in prison indefinitely; they were persecuted for their faith, sexual orientation and political beliefs. The Andreasstraße prison was used primarily to hold "Andersdenkende" (literally: "differently-thinkers") i.e. anyone who dissented from the views of the Nazi party. In 1939, at the start of World War II, the basement of the prison was altered so that it could be used as an air raid shelter. The prison became so overcrowded that political detainees were also held in a police detention centre at Petersberg Citadel, which is on a hill immediately behind Andreasstraße. That prison also became over-crowded.[13] By 1943 the number of inmates in the Andreasstraße prison had grown to 350 and at the end of the war, in 1945, it held 400 prisoners.[12]

Soviet occupation 1945–1949 edit

Erfurt was liberated by the US 80th Infantry Division on 12 April 1945.[14] The American administration closed the Andreasstraße prison. Political prisoners were released and other inmates were transferred to other prisons in Thuringia.[15] As had been agreed at the Yalta Conference, Thuringia was handed over to the Soviet military administration in the first week of July.[16] It confiscated the prison building and used it for storage. Later it was used for the "preventative detention" of people with "unstable lifestyles", such as the homeless and alcoholics. Nazis and those suspected of anti-communist activities were interned in Special camp number 2 at the former Buchenwald concentration camp site.[17] Under the Soviet administration many people who were convicted of political crimes were given the death penalty.[18]

From 1948 the Andreasstraße prison was again used for holding for convicts and remand prisoners. It had 42 single and 36 shared cells; the number of people held fluctuated on a daily basis from 212 to 310.[19]

GDR era 1949–1990 edit

 
Andreasstraße 38, Erfurt, the former Stasi District Headquarters, now a police administration building
 
Corridor of the men's section, on the 2nd floor of the former Andreasstraße Prison

The German Democratic Republic was founded on 7 October 1949.[20] The Landespolizei, the state police force, were put in charge of the Andreastraße prison. Most of the prisoners were being held for crimes such as theft, burglary, or "Arbeitsbummelei" (being lazy or careless at work).[21]

The Ministry of State Security (Stasi) was established on 8 February 1950.[22] It functioned as the country's secret police, intelligence agency and crime investigation service, all in one. It grew to have around 270,000 people working for it, including about 180,000 informers, or "unofficial collaborators".[23]

The administration of the GDR was centralised in August 1952. The five former East German states were dissolved and the country was reorganised into districts (Bezirke). Thuringia was divided into three districts: Erfurt, Gera and Suhl. The separate state police forces were merged into the centralised Volkspolizei.[24]

The Andreasstraße prison became a facility shared by the Volkspolizei and the Stasi; the Stasi's Erfurt district headquarters was set up at Andreasstraße 38, neighbouring the prison. The Volkspolizei used the basement and ground floor of the prison and the first and second floors were used by the Stasi for holding and interrogating remand prisoners. About 90% of all arrests by the Stasi were on political grounds.[21] Women were held on the first floor and men on the second floor.[25] The Stasi floors were set up to hold a maximum of 96 detainees; by 1962 there were 121, and by 1989, the year the Berlin wall was opened, there were over 300 inmates.[2][6] The first director of the Stasi part of the prison was Lieutenant Willi Stettner, a former inmate of Buchenwald concentration camp.[25]

Between 1952 and 1989 over 5000 political prisoners were held and interrogated in the Andreasstraße prison.[9] It is not known precisely how many people were detained on political grounds in the whole of the GDR, but it is estimated that alone during the period when Erich Honecker was General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party, May 1971 to October 1989, the number was around 35,000.[26]

In October 1972, as part of the celebrations of the 23rd anniversary of the GDR's founding, Erich Honecker announced an amnesty for over 42,000 "political and criminal perpetrators". It was not a full amnesty, but those who had been convicted and were still in prison had their sentences commuted to three-years probation. This was the first time GDR had publicly acknowledged that it had political prisoners and it caused a sensation in the West.[27] However, it had been known at government level much earlier than that. Political prisoners had been ransomed to the West German government since the early 1960s. According to the historian Andreas Apelt, "Between 1964 and 1989 some 33,755 political prisoners and 250,000 of their relatives were sold to West Germany, for a sum totalling 3.5bn Deutschmarks".[28] The price paid varied but on average it was about 40,000 Deutsche Marks per person. It was a lucrative way for the East German government to get western currency.[29]

On the 28 October 1989, to try to calm protests against the government, an amnesty was issued for those being held for border crimes or for participation in the weekly demonstrations that were happening all over the country.[27]

After the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, the Ministry for State Security was renamed the "Office for National Security" (German: Amt für Nationale Sicherheit) on 17 November 1989.[30] It was dissolved on 13 January 1990. Its records are managed by the Stasi Records Agency.[31]

On 6 December 1989, the Council of State issued an amnesty for all political prisoners. This is known as the "Gerlach Amnesty", after Manfred Gerlach, the last Head of State of East Germany.[32][27]

After German reunification on 3 October 1990, the administration of the Federal Republic took over the prison. It closed in 2002.[33]

Reasons for imprisonment edit

"Geklopft wurde meistens nachts vom Bett aus, was zur Folge hatte, dass der raue Putz voller Blutspuren war. [...] Es wurde ja das Alphabet durchgeklopft und das dauerte stundenlang. Die Knöchel waren blutig [...], aber es war die einzige Möglichkeit, Kontakt zu Leuten in den Nachbarzellen zu halten, und das war wichtig"

"[People] knocked [on the walls] mostly during the night from their beds, which resulted in the rough plaster [walls] being full of traces of blood. [...] The alphabet was tapped out for hours. Our knuckles were bloody [...], but that was the only way to keep in contact with people in the neighbouring cells, and that was important."

Thomas Wagner, in an interview on 31 August 2012. In November 1976, Wagner, then 22, was arrested for collecting signatures on a petition in support of exiled singer Wolf Biermann. He was held in Andresstraße prison until May 1977, after which he was sent to Cottbus prison to complete a 14 month sentence for "defamation of the State". He was ransomed to the West German government in November 1977, two months before the end of his sentence.[34]

Charges included accusations of spying, sabotage, "political diversion", "underground activities" or "anti-democratic agitation". After the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, offences relating to trying to escape to the West became the main political crimes, especially in Thuringia which had the Inner German border on its western and southern perimeters.[35] Examples of detention in Andreasstraße prison include:

  • Johannes Hütcher, 20, who in 1960 shouted abuse and threw a plum jam sandwich at a photograph of Walter Ulbricht, the General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party, which was hanging in his workplace staffroom. He was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment for "State-endangering propaganda and agitation".[36]
  • Rosel Schatz, 30, who in 1981 wrote love letters to her fiancé in West Germany which were intercepted by the Stasi. In one of these she told him she had applied for an "Ausreiseantrag" (a permit to leave East Germany). She was accused of "treasonous sharing of information" and sentenced to two years and three months imprisonment in Hoheneck women's prison. After a year she was ransomed to West Germany.[37]
  • The Höfelmayr family from Eisenach in Thuringia, tried to escape over the Czech border to Austria in 1983. The father received one year and 10 months, the mother one year and six months, the daughter, 17, one year and the son, 18, eight months.[38]
  • Marilene Bornemann, who during the East German uprising of 1953, with her husband Winfried distributed leaflets calling for free elections and a united Germany. In October 1953, Winfried Bornemann was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, and Marilene to four years. While on remand in Andreasstraße she realised she was pregnant. She gave birth in a prison hospital at Meusdorf near Leipzig in June 1954 and was separated from her child for two years. She was held in the "Roter Ochse" prison in Halle until she was released in May 1956. Her husband was released in December 1960.[39]
  • In November 1976, the sing-songwriter Wolf Biermann was "ausgebürgert", i.e. stripped of his East German citizenship and banned from returning to the country, while he was in Cologne on an officially authorized tour of West Germany.[40] Biermann was a critic of the government, but wanted to remain in the country to instigate change. After his exile, in 1976 and 1977 there were numerous arrests of people who supported him. In Erfurt, about 30 people who had signed a petition supporting Biermann were interrogated in Andreasstraße and sentenced from 1 year to 14 months imprisonment.[30]
  • Josef Blösche, a member of the SS and SD who is shown pointing a gun in the direction of a small boy in the iconic 1943 photograph Warsaw Ghetto boy, was arrested by the Stasi in 1967 and held in Andreasstraße prison in 1969 while he was on trial in Erfurt for Nazi war crimes. He was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity and executed in Leipzig.[41][Note 1]

Prison conditions edit

 
Shared men's cell, former Andreasstraße prison

People could be held on pre-trial detention for months. A three-month maximum limit for preliminary investigations was set in the criminal procedures code, but the unit that investigated political cases could extend investigations anytime it wished. The average detention period in the Andresstraße prison was 100 days; 64 days on average for the investigation, and if convicted, a further 36 days waiting to be transferred to one of several of prisons that held political convicts.[45]

Physical and psychological abuse were common, particularly in the first half of the 1950s.[46] Interrogations were carried out day and night, with sleep deprivation leading to false confessions being signed. Later, more subtle forms of mental pressure were used. Prisoners were impersonalised by being addressed only by their prison numbers, not by name. They were checked on frequently via spy holes in the cell doors, with lights turned on and off every 20 minutes during the night. The cells had glass brick windows, so that prisoners had no view of the outside.[47]

The prisoners were only allowed out of their cells to go to interrogations and for a 30-minute per day visit to the exercise yard, which was divided up into separate, walled spaces. There was a system of "traffic lights" in the corridors, so that prisoners couldn't see or pass each other when they were being taken outside of their cells. Prisoners who were held in isolation cells developed an alphabetical code for knocking on the walls in order to communicate with each other. Prisoners could write four letters per month, which were checked by prison staff; they were not allowed to contain any comments about the criminal proceedings or prison conditions. One visitor per one month was allowed.[48]

Occupation of the Stasi headquarters and prison edit

"Today, Roland Jahn, Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records and a former dissident who was expelled from the GDR, says that the Erfurt occupation was the signal for a unified wave of occupations across the country [...] until the main Stasi headquarters in the Berlin district of Lichtenberg was occupied on January 15th. "That's how people turned the peaceful protest movement into a peaceful revolution," Jahn said.

For Jahn, the courageous women and men who carried out the occupations are the only reason that people can now search through the records about themselves which the Stasi had collected."

How ordinary people smashed the Stasi in The Local, 4 December 2014[6]

In 1989 and 1990, there were widespread anti-government protests and strikes in towns and cities throughout East Germany, demanding the opening of the borders with the west, human rights protections and genuine democracy. This period, which led to the opening of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 and German reunification on 3 October 1990, is known as the Peaceful Revolution.[49] In Erfurt, from early October 1989 the protests usually took place every Thursday in Domplatz, the Cathedral square neighbouring the Andreasstraße prison. Amongst other slogans, protesters shouted "Stasi raus!" (Stasi Out!).[50][51] Between 20,000 and 40,000 people attended the demonstrations in Domplatz. The largest demonstration in Erfurt, which had a population of 220,000, was on 3 November 1989 and had up to an estimated 100,000 participants.[52]

Erich Honecker was removed as leader on 18 October 1989 and less than a month after the opening of the Berlin Wall, the entire SED party, which had ruled East Germany since it was founded, stepped down on 3 December.[44][53] The Stasi's days seemed numbered and it was feared that they would destroy incriminating documents about their activities.[6][50]

The political group New Forum, a nationwide collective of activist organizations, created a leaflet warning about Stasi attempts to destroy files. In Erfurt 4000 copies of the flyer were made and posted into letterboxes on the evening of 3 December.[6] Early in the morning of 4 December, smoke was seen coming from the Stasi district headquarters at Andreasstraße 38, indicating that documents were being burned. Members of the women's group "Frauen für Veränderung" (Women for Change) went to the building and demanded to be let in.[54][55][Note 2]

Ten people were let in at about 10 am.[Note 3] A crowd gathered outside and many others then got into the building, walking past armed guards and pushing the Stasi staff out the way, who then locked themselves in their offices. The protesters set up a watch and checked any Stasi staff leaving the building to make sure they weren't trying to smuggle out any documents. More than 500 people gathered outside and vehicles were used to block the exits.[50][57] Police who were present refused to help the Stasi employees.[5]

The protesters went through the building looking for documents. They came across areas which were completely empty, but later found rooms full of shredded paper. In the basement they found a large incinerator, with sackfuls of files and letters ready to be burned, and the ashes of those that had already been destroyed.[55]

The occupiers stored some of the material in detention cells in the basement of the building, and also occupied the empty second floor of Andreasstraße prison. Over the next few days files from the Erfurt district headquarters and other Stasi offices around the region were stored in cells in the empty men's section. The doors were sealed with large wax seals; some are now on display in the museum.[58][59]

Late in the afternoon a "citizens' guard" and "citizens' committee" were established. The volunteer citizens' guard kept watch over the Stasi district headquarters building and the prison for months afterwards, making sure no documents were removed. Many former inmates of Andreasstraße prison arrived to guard the documents that were stored there. "They wanted to be eyewitnesses that the power of the Stasi was really over".[55]

The action quickly inspired further occupations of Stasi offices throughout East Germany, starting that same evening in other towns in Thuringia as well as in Leipzig and Rostock.[60][Note 4]

The occupations led to the protection of Stasi files and ended the fear East German citizens had of the Stasi, the last bastion of the SED dictatorship.[50][9] The Stasi was dissolved on 13 January 1990.[31]

In 2013, five of the "Women for Change" were awarded the City of Erfurt's medal of honour for their courage in leading the occupation.[55]

Establishment of the Memorial and Education Centre edit

 
The "Kubus", a glass box on which the story of the protests and the occupation of Stasi premises in Erfurt is told in comic book style

After German reunification the building was used as a men's prison until 22 January 2002. The remaining 170 inmates were transferred to a new prison in Thuringia. The former men's section on the second floor was not used after 1989 and it remained preserved as it was in the GDR period.[61]

From 2002, the condition of the empty building deteriorated while the state government decided what to do with it.[62] From 2005 exhibitions on the history of the site were set up in the former prison, and from 2006 tours of the site were given, mainly by former inmates.[63]

On New Year's Eve 2010, three former inmates occupied the building and began a hunger strike. They felt that their views were not being taken into account in the government's plans for the development of the memorial site.[46] On 18 March 2010 it was agreed by various interested parties that "contemporary witnesses" to the events would be central to the project, and this was confirmed with the Thuringia Ministry of Culture on 26 March.[63]

The prison was transferred to the Stiftung Ettersberg at the end of 2011 and plans were developed for the memorial centre, aiming to preserve the authenticity of the original site, but also to create a modern museum. Participants in the 1989 protests, former prison inmates, and former Stasi staff were all involved. [64]

The "Kubus der Friedlichen Revolution" ("Cube of the Peaceful Revolution") was built in the courtyard. This is a 7.5-metre (25 ft) high glass cube, on which the story of the protest movement in Thuringia and the occupation of the prison and Stasi headquarters is told in the style of a graphic novel. The 40-metre-long (130 ft) mural, created by the artist Simon Schwartz wraps around the cube.[65] Schwartz used over 100 contemporaneous photographs as a basis for his drawings.[66]

The Memorial and Education Centre opened to the public on 4 December 2013, the anniversary of the citizens' occupation of the Erfurt Stasi headquarters and the prison.[33]

The redevelopment of the prison received a special recognition award at the 2014 Thuringia State Prize for Architecture and Urban Planning.[67]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ East Germany used the death penalty until 1981. It was carried out in the early period by guillotine, and later by a shot in the back of the neck, at execution facilities in Dresden and, from 1960 to 1981, in Leipzig.[42] The exact number of people executed is not known because causes of death were sometimes falsified, but more than 160 people were executed in the GDR era; about a third of these were Nazi war criminals.[43] The GDR formally abolished the death penalty in June 1987.[44]
  2. ^ The writer and artist Gabriele Stötzer [de], who had been held in Andreasstraße and Hoheneck prisons in the 1970's for signing a petition supporting the exiled singer Wolf Biermann, was one of the "Women for Change" group.[56]
  3. ^ Other women from "Women for Change" also occupied the Stasi county office in "Straße der Einheit", outside of the city centre, from 12 pm on the same day.[55]
  4. ^ In Erfurt not only the Stasi district headquarters, county office and prison were occupied. In addition, on 4 December 1989 alone, citizens went to 37 "conspiratorial apartments", looking for Stasi documents to protect from destruction. These were apartments distributed throughout the city which were used by the Stasi to conduct their covert activities. There were known to be several hundred such apartments in Erfurt. Over the days that followed the first occupation, more and more of them were sought out by the protesters.[55]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Wüstenberg 2017, p. 223.
  2. ^ a b Voit 2016, p. 27.
  3. ^ a b Maser & Veen 2015, pp. 5–7.
  4. ^ Voit 2016, p. 4.
  5. ^ a b Kaule & Wolle 2018, p. 88.
  6. ^ a b c d e How ordinary people smashed the Stasi in The Local.de, 4 December 2014. Retrieved 25 July 2019
  7. ^ Voit 2016, p. 5.
  8. ^ Voit 2016, pp. 6–7.
  9. ^ a b c Raßloff, Steffen (3 May 2014) Gedenk- und Bildungsstätte Andreasstraße. Vom Händlerviertel zum Stasiknast. Denkmale in Erfurt (147): Die Gedenkstätte in der Andreasstraße steht auf historischem Boden. Beitrag der Serie Denkmale in Erfurt aus der Thüringer Allgemeine on www.efurt-web.de[permanent dead link]. Retrieved 20 July 2019
  10. ^ a b Maser & Veen 2015, p. 136.
  11. ^ Voit 2016, p. 9.
  12. ^ a b Maser & Veen 2015, p. 137.
  13. ^ Verein der Freunde der Citadelle Petersberg zu Erfurt e.V. 2015.
  14. ^ Stanton 2006, p. 150.
  15. ^ Maser & Veen 2015, p. 138.
  16. ^ Neubert & Auerbach 2005, p. 18.
  17. ^ Maser & Veen 2015, pp. 138–139.
  18. ^ Neubert & Auerbach 2005, p. 19.
  19. ^ Maser & Veen 2015, pp. 139–140.
  20. ^ Kermarrec 2003, p. 17.
  21. ^ a b Maser & Veen 2015, p. 40.
  22. ^ The Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic (BStU). The Founding of the MfS 20 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 21 August 2019
  23. ^ Voit 2016, pp. 26–27.
  24. ^ Kermarrec 2003, pp. 19–20.
  25. ^ a b Maser & Veen 2015, p. 141.
  26. ^ Maser & Veen 2015, p. 18.
  27. ^ a b c Weinke 2018, p. 193.
  28. ^ Haines, Gavin (6 November 2014) East Germany's trade in human beings on BBC News Online. Retrieved 30 July 2019
  29. ^ Iken, Katja (24 October 2011) Häftlingsdeals mit der DDR Menschen gegen Maisladungen in Spiegel Online. Retrieved 30 July 2019
  30. ^ a b Maser & Veen 2015, p. 142.
  31. ^ a b Vilasi 2015.
  32. ^ Childs 2014, p. 104.
  33. ^ a b Maser & Veen 2015, p. 143.
  34. ^ Maser & Veen 2015, p. 39.
  35. ^ Maser & Veen 2015, pp. 18–23.
  36. ^ Voit 2016, p. 34.
  37. ^ Voit 2016, p. 42.
  38. ^ Voit 2016, p. 44.
  39. ^ Voit 2016, p. 33.
  40. ^ Biographische Datenbanken. Biermann, Wolf. Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur. Retrieved 29 July 2019
  41. ^ Voit 2016, p. 36.
  42. ^ Runde Ecke Leipzig. Execution site. Retrieved 18 August 2019
  43. ^ Voit 2016, p. 31.
  44. ^ a b Childs & Popplewell 2016, p. 202.
  45. ^ Maser & Veen 2015, p. 22.
  46. ^ a b Protestaktion: Ex-Häftlinge besetzen ehemaliges Stasi-Gefängnis in Spiegel Online, 2 January 2010. Retrieved 2 August 2019
  47. ^ Maser & Veen 2015, p. 24.
  48. ^ Voit 2016, p. 37.
  49. ^ Raßloff 2016, p. 17.
  50. ^ a b c d Raßloff, Steffen (27 October 2012) Besetzung Stasi-Bezirksverwaltung 1989. Die Angst überwunden. Denkmale in Erfurt (69): Mit der Besetzung der ersten Stasi-Bezirksverwaltung gab Erfurt am 4. Dezember 1989 ein DDR-weites Signal. Beitrag der Serie Denkmale in Erfurt aus der Thüringer Allgemeine on www.efurt-web.de[permanent dead link]. Retrieved 25 July 2019
  51. ^ Hoffmeister & Hemple 2000, pp. 91–96.
  52. ^ Raßloff 2016, pp. 44–45.
  53. ^ Tomforde, Anna (19 Oct 1989) East Germans oust Honecker in The Guardian. Retrieved 4 August 2019
  54. ^ Guenther 2010, pp. 124–125.
  55. ^ a b c d e f Stötzer, Gabriele (10 April 2018) Für Angst blieb keine Zeit on Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung website. Retrieved 6 August 2019
  56. ^ Maser & Veen 2015, p. 104.
  57. ^ Horakova 2018, p. 143.
  58. ^ Voit 2016, pp. 50–53.
  59. ^ MDR Zeitreise. Das Stasi-Gefängnis in Erfurt on MDR website. Retrieved 4 August 2019
  60. ^ Raßloff 2016, pp. 58–59.
  61. ^ Voit 2016, p. 54.
  62. ^ Voit 2016, p. 55.
  63. ^ a b Gedenk-und Bildungsstätte Andreasstrße. Kurze-chronologie-der-ereignisse on Gesellschaft für Zeitgeschichte website. Retrieved 9 August 2019
  64. ^ Voit 2016, p. 56.
  65. ^ Voit 2016, p. 59.
  66. ^ Anerkennung für Erfurter Kubus von Simon Schwartz. Avant-verlag news, 3 December 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2019
  67. ^ Thüringer Staatspreis für Architektur und Städtebau 2014 on Thueringia.de. Retrieved 10 August 2019

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  • Raßloff, Steffen (2013). 100 Denkmale in Erfurt: Geschichte und Geschichten. Essen: Klartext. ISBN 978-3-8375-0987-8.
  • Stanton, Shelby (2006). World War II Order of Battle: An Encyclopedic Reference to U.S. Army Ground Forces from Battalion through Division, 1939–1946 (Revised ed.). Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-811701-57-0.
  • Verein der Freunde der Citadelle Petersberg zu Erfurt e.V. (2015). 350 Jahre Zitadelle Petersberg. Tagungsband: Wissenschaftliches Kolloquim zum 350. Jahrestages der Grundsteinlegung der Zitadelle Petersberg vom 29. Mai bis 31 Mai 2015. Universität Erfurt. Erfurt: Freunde der Citadelle Petersberg zu Erfurt.e. V.
  • Vilasi, Antonella Colonna (2015). The History of the Stasi. Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse. ISBN 9781504937054. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  • Voit, Jochen (2016). Gedenkstätte Andreasstraße: Haft, Diktatur und Revolution in Erfurt. Berlin: Christoph Links Verlag. ISBN 978-3-86153-885-1.
  • Weinke, Annette (2018). Law, History, and Justice: Debating German State Crimes in the Long Twentieth Century. New York / Oxford: Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-1-7892-0105-5. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  • Wüstenberg, Jenny (2017). Civil Society and Memory in Postwar Germany. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-1071-7746-8. Retrieved 2 August 2019.

External links edit

  • Stiftung Ettersberg. Andreasstraße

memorial, education, centre, andreasstraße, german, gedenk, bildungsstätte, andreasstraße, museum, erfurt, germany, which, housed, former, prison, used, east, german, ministry, state, security, stasi, informally, known, stasi, museum, gedenk, bildungsstätte, a. The Memorial and Education Centre Andreasstrasse German Gedenk und Bildungsstatte Andreasstrasse is a museum in Erfurt Germany which is housed in a former prison used by the East German Ministry for State Security Stasi It is informally known as the Stasi Museum Gedenk und Bildungsstatte AndreasstrasseMemorial and Education Centre AndreasstrasseMemorial and Education Centre Andreasstrasse ErfurtLocation within ThuringiaShow map of ThuringiaMemorial and Education Centre Andreasstrasse ErfurtMemorial and Education Centre Andreasstrasse Erfurt Germany Show map of GermanyEstablished4 December 2013 2013 12 04 LocationAndreasstrasse 37 ErfurtCoordinates50 58 43 N 11 01 24 E 50 97861 N 11 02333 E 50 97861 11 02333TypePrison MuseumOwnerStiftung EttersbergPublic transit accessTram lines 3 4 and 6 Bus line 90 Stop Domplatz Cathedral Square Websitestiftung ettersberg de From 1952 until 1989 over 5000 political prisoners were held on remand and interrogated in the Andreasstrasse prison which was one of 17 Stasi remand prisons in the German Democratic Republic East Germany 1 2 The museum was opened in 2013 as a memorial to repression and resistance in the Thuringia region during the GDR dictatorship Its permanent exhibitions focus on the experiences of the prison s inmates the activities of the Stasi life under the dictatorship and the Peaceful Revolution which led to German reunification 3 On 4 December 1989 local citizens stormed and occupied the prison as well as the neighbouring Stasi district headquarters to stop the mass destruction of Stasi files 1 Some Stasi employees were thrown out of upper floor windows and beaten after falling to the streets below but there were no deaths or serious injuries It was the first of many occupations of Stasi premises throughout the country and it was a milestone in the Peaceful Revolution 4 5 It led to the preservation and opening of Stasi files so that citizens could see what information was held on them and so that the crimes of the Stasi could be exposed 6 The prison was opened in 1878 and held political prisoners for several different political regimes until 1989 It was closed in 2002 7 The Memorial and Education Centre Andreasstrasse is managed by the Stiftung Ettersberg Contents 1 The prison in the pre GDR period 1 1 1871 1933 1 2 Nazi era 1933 1945 1 3 Soviet occupation 1945 1949 2 GDR era 1949 1990 2 1 Reasons for imprisonment 2 2 Prison conditions 2 3 Occupation of the Stasi headquarters and prison 3 Establishment of the Memorial and Education Centre 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References 7 Bibliography 8 External linksThe prison in the pre GDR period edit1871 1933 edit nbsp Courthouse Erfurt completed 1879 facing the Cathedral square Shortly after German unification in 1871 a new courthouse and prison ensemble were planned as the city had grown rapidly from a population of 16 000 in 1802 to 100 000 During the 19th century prison had become the most important form of criminal punishment in Prussia in preference to corporal punishment which had previously been favoured 8 The new buildings were constructed on a park neighbouring Erfurt s Cathedral Square and below the town fortress Petersberg Citadel 9 Building began in 1874 the three storey red brick neo gothic prison came into use in October 1878 The stone clad courthouse around the corner from it opened nine months later in 1879 10 The new prison initially accommodated 110 male and female inmates It was further reconfigured and by 1911 the average occupancy was 198 162 men in 34 cells and 36 women in 8 cells 3 It served as a remand prison for people awaiting trial and for holding those convicted of property offences fraud and violent crime 11 People were also incarcerated on political charges such as Lese majeste and going on strike Newspapers editors who published articles in favour of social democracy could also be imprisoned 10 After World War I during the Weimar Republic era considerable renovation and modernisation work was carried out using prisoners labour By 1932 the average number of inmates was 253 12 Nazi era 1933 1945 edit nbsp Andreasstrasse 37 Erfurt The former prison opened in 1878 During the Nazi era there was widespread abuse of police powers People could be arrested without reason and held in prison indefinitely they were persecuted for their faith sexual orientation and political beliefs The Andreasstrasse prison was used primarily to hold Andersdenkende literally differently thinkers i e anyone who dissented from the views of the Nazi party In 1939 at the start of World War II the basement of the prison was altered so that it could be used as an air raid shelter The prison became so overcrowded that political detainees were also held in a police detention centre at Petersberg Citadel which is on a hill immediately behind Andreasstrasse That prison also became over crowded 13 By 1943 the number of inmates in the Andreasstrasse prison had grown to 350 and at the end of the war in 1945 it held 400 prisoners 12 Soviet occupation 1945 1949 edit Erfurt was liberated by the US 80th Infantry Division on 12 April 1945 14 The American administration closed the Andreasstrasse prison Political prisoners were released and other inmates were transferred to other prisons in Thuringia 15 As had been agreed at the Yalta Conference Thuringia was handed over to the Soviet military administration in the first week of July 16 It confiscated the prison building and used it for storage Later it was used for the preventative detention of people with unstable lifestyles such as the homeless and alcoholics Nazis and those suspected of anti communist activities were interned in Special camp number 2 at the former Buchenwald concentration camp site 17 Under the Soviet administration many people who were convicted of political crimes were given the death penalty 18 From 1948 the Andreasstrasse prison was again used for holding for convicts and remand prisoners It had 42 single and 36 shared cells the number of people held fluctuated on a daily basis from 212 to 310 19 GDR era 1949 1990 edit nbsp Andreasstrasse 38 Erfurt the former Stasi District Headquarters now a police administration building nbsp Corridor of the men s section on the 2nd floor of the former Andreasstrasse Prison The German Democratic Republic was founded on 7 October 1949 20 The Landespolizei the state police force were put in charge of the Andreastrasse prison Most of the prisoners were being held for crimes such as theft burglary or Arbeitsbummelei being lazy or careless at work 21 The Ministry of State Security Stasi was established on 8 February 1950 22 It functioned as the country s secret police intelligence agency and crime investigation service all in one It grew to have around 270 000 people working for it including about 180 000 informers or unofficial collaborators 23 The administration of the GDR was centralised in August 1952 The five former East German states were dissolved and the country was reorganised into districts Bezirke Thuringia was divided into three districts Erfurt Gera and Suhl The separate state police forces were merged into the centralised Volkspolizei 24 The Andreasstrasse prison became a facility shared by the Volkspolizei and the Stasi the Stasi s Erfurt district headquarters was set up at Andreasstrasse 38 neighbouring the prison The Volkspolizei used the basement and ground floor of the prison and the first and second floors were used by the Stasi for holding and interrogating remand prisoners About 90 of all arrests by the Stasi were on political grounds 21 Women were held on the first floor and men on the second floor 25 The Stasi floors were set up to hold a maximum of 96 detainees by 1962 there were 121 and by 1989 the year the Berlin wall was opened there were over 300 inmates 2 6 The first director of the Stasi part of the prison was Lieutenant Willi Stettner a former inmate of Buchenwald concentration camp 25 Between 1952 and 1989 over 5000 political prisoners were held and interrogated in the Andreasstrasse prison 9 It is not known precisely how many people were detained on political grounds in the whole of the GDR but it is estimated that alone during the period when Erich Honecker was General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party May 1971 to October 1989 the number was around 35 000 26 In October 1972 as part of the celebrations of the 23rd anniversary of the GDR s founding Erich Honecker announced an amnesty for over 42 000 political and criminal perpetrators It was not a full amnesty but those who had been convicted and were still in prison had their sentences commuted to three years probation This was the first time GDR had publicly acknowledged that it had political prisoners and it caused a sensation in the West 27 However it had been known at government level much earlier than that Political prisoners had been ransomed to the West German government since the early 1960s According to the historian Andreas Apelt Between 1964 and 1989 some 33 755 political prisoners and 250 000 of their relatives were sold to West Germany for a sum totalling 3 5bn Deutschmarks 28 The price paid varied but on average it was about 40 000 Deutsche Marks per person It was a lucrative way for the East German government to get western currency 29 On the 28 October 1989 to try to calm protests against the government an amnesty was issued for those being held for border crimes or for participation in the weekly demonstrations that were happening all over the country 27 After the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 the Ministry for State Security was renamed the Office for National Security German Amt fur Nationale Sicherheit on 17 November 1989 30 It was dissolved on 13 January 1990 Its records are managed by the Stasi Records Agency 31 On 6 December 1989 the Council of State issued an amnesty for all political prisoners This is known as the Gerlach Amnesty after Manfred Gerlach the last Head of State of East Germany 32 27 After German reunification on 3 October 1990 the administration of the Federal Republic took over the prison It closed in 2002 33 Reasons for imprisonment edit Geklopft wurde meistens nachts vom Bett aus was zur Folge hatte dass der raue Putz voller Blutspuren war Es wurde ja das Alphabet durchgeklopft und das dauerte stundenlang Die Knochel waren blutig aber es war die einzige Moglichkeit Kontakt zu Leuten in den Nachbarzellen zu halten und das war wichtig People knocked on the walls mostly during the night from their beds which resulted in the rough plaster walls being full of traces of blood The alphabet was tapped out for hours Our knuckles were bloody but that was the only way to keep in contact with people in the neighbouring cells and that was important Thomas Wagner in an interview on 31 August 2012 In November 1976 Wagner then 22 was arrested for collecting signatures on a petition in support of exiled singer Wolf Biermann He was held in Andresstrasse prison until May 1977 after which he was sent to Cottbus prison to complete a 14 month sentence for defamation of the State He was ransomed to the West German government in November 1977 two months before the end of his sentence 34 Charges included accusations of spying sabotage political diversion underground activities or anti democratic agitation After the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 offences relating to trying to escape to the West became the main political crimes especially in Thuringia which had the Inner German border on its western and southern perimeters 35 Examples of detention in Andreasstrasse prison include Johannes Hutcher 20 who in 1960 shouted abuse and threw a plum jam sandwich at a photograph of Walter Ulbricht the General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party which was hanging in his workplace staffroom He was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment for State endangering propaganda and agitation 36 Rosel Schatz 30 who in 1981 wrote love letters to her fiance in West Germany which were intercepted by the Stasi In one of these she told him she had applied for an Ausreiseantrag a permit to leave East Germany She was accused of treasonous sharing of information and sentenced to two years and three months imprisonment in Hoheneck women s prison After a year she was ransomed to West Germany 37 The Hofelmayr family from Eisenach in Thuringia tried to escape over the Czech border to Austria in 1983 The father received one year and 10 months the mother one year and six months the daughter 17 one year and the son 18 eight months 38 Marilene Bornemann who during the East German uprising of 1953 with her husband Winfried distributed leaflets calling for free elections and a united Germany In October 1953 Winfried Bornemann was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and Marilene to four years While on remand in Andreasstrasse she realised she was pregnant She gave birth in a prison hospital at Meusdorf near Leipzig in June 1954 and was separated from her child for two years She was held in the Roter Ochse prison in Halle until she was released in May 1956 Her husband was released in December 1960 39 In November 1976 the sing songwriter Wolf Biermann was ausgeburgert i e stripped of his East German citizenship and banned from returning to the country while he was in Cologne on an officially authorized tour of West Germany 40 Biermann was a critic of the government but wanted to remain in the country to instigate change After his exile in 1976 and 1977 there were numerous arrests of people who supported him In Erfurt about 30 people who had signed a petition supporting Biermann were interrogated in Andreasstrasse and sentenced from 1 year to 14 months imprisonment 30 Josef Blosche a member of the SS and SD who is shown pointing a gun in the direction of a small boy in the iconic 1943 photograph Warsaw Ghetto boy was arrested by the Stasi in 1967 and held in Andreasstrasse prison in 1969 while he was on trial in Erfurt for Nazi war crimes He was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity and executed in Leipzig 41 Note 1 Prison conditions edit nbsp Shared men s cell former Andreasstrasse prison People could be held on pre trial detention for months A three month maximum limit for preliminary investigations was set in the criminal procedures code but the unit that investigated political cases could extend investigations anytime it wished The average detention period in the Andresstrasse prison was 100 days 64 days on average for the investigation and if convicted a further 36 days waiting to be transferred to one of several of prisons that held political convicts 45 Physical and psychological abuse were common particularly in the first half of the 1950s 46 Interrogations were carried out day and night with sleep deprivation leading to false confessions being signed Later more subtle forms of mental pressure were used Prisoners were impersonalised by being addressed only by their prison numbers not by name They were checked on frequently via spy holes in the cell doors with lights turned on and off every 20 minutes during the night The cells had glass brick windows so that prisoners had no view of the outside 47 The prisoners were only allowed out of their cells to go to interrogations and for a 30 minute per day visit to the exercise yard which was divided up into separate walled spaces There was a system of traffic lights in the corridors so that prisoners couldn t see or pass each other when they were being taken outside of their cells Prisoners who were held in isolation cells developed an alphabetical code for knocking on the walls in order to communicate with each other Prisoners could write four letters per month which were checked by prison staff they were not allowed to contain any comments about the criminal proceedings or prison conditions One visitor per one month was allowed 48 Occupation of the Stasi headquarters and prison edit Today Roland Jahn Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records and a former dissident who was expelled from the GDR says that the Erfurt occupation was the signal for a unified wave of occupations across the country until the main Stasi headquarters in the Berlin district of Lichtenberg was occupied on January 15th That s how people turned the peaceful protest movement into a peaceful revolution Jahn said For Jahn the courageous women and men who carried out the occupations are the only reason that people can now search through the records about themselves which the Stasi had collected How ordinary people smashed the Stasi in The Local 4 December 2014 6 In 1989 and 1990 there were widespread anti government protests and strikes in towns and cities throughout East Germany demanding the opening of the borders with the west human rights protections and genuine democracy This period which led to the opening of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 and German reunification on 3 October 1990 is known as the Peaceful Revolution 49 In Erfurt from early October 1989 the protests usually took place every Thursday in Domplatz the Cathedral square neighbouring the Andreasstrasse prison Amongst other slogans protesters shouted Stasi raus Stasi Out 50 51 Between 20 000 and 40 000 people attended the demonstrations in Domplatz The largest demonstration in Erfurt which had a population of 220 000 was on 3 November 1989 and had up to an estimated 100 000 participants 52 Erich Honecker was removed as leader on 18 October 1989 and less than a month after the opening of the Berlin Wall the entire SED party which had ruled East Germany since it was founded stepped down on 3 December 44 53 The Stasi s days seemed numbered and it was feared that they would destroy incriminating documents about their activities 6 50 The political group New Forum a nationwide collective of activist organizations created a leaflet warning about Stasi attempts to destroy files In Erfurt 4000 copies of the flyer were made and posted into letterboxes on the evening of 3 December 6 Early in the morning of 4 December smoke was seen coming from the Stasi district headquarters at Andreasstrasse 38 indicating that documents were being burned Members of the women s group Frauen fur Veranderung Women for Change went to the building and demanded to be let in 54 55 Note 2 Ten people were let in at about 10 am Note 3 A crowd gathered outside and many others then got into the building walking past armed guards and pushing the Stasi staff out the way who then locked themselves in their offices The protesters set up a watch and checked any Stasi staff leaving the building to make sure they weren t trying to smuggle out any documents More than 500 people gathered outside and vehicles were used to block the exits 50 57 Police who were present refused to help the Stasi employees 5 The protesters went through the building looking for documents They came across areas which were completely empty but later found rooms full of shredded paper In the basement they found a large incinerator with sackfuls of files and letters ready to be burned and the ashes of those that had already been destroyed 55 The occupiers stored some of the material in detention cells in the basement of the building and also occupied the empty second floor of Andreasstrasse prison Over the next few days files from the Erfurt district headquarters and other Stasi offices around the region were stored in cells in the empty men s section The doors were sealed with large wax seals some are now on display in the museum 58 59 Late in the afternoon a citizens guard and citizens committee were established The volunteer citizens guard kept watch over the Stasi district headquarters building and the prison for months afterwards making sure no documents were removed Many former inmates of Andreasstrasse prison arrived to guard the documents that were stored there They wanted to be eyewitnesses that the power of the Stasi was really over 55 The action quickly inspired further occupations of Stasi offices throughout East Germany starting that same evening in other towns in Thuringia as well as in Leipzig and Rostock 60 Note 4 The occupations led to the protection of Stasi files and ended the fear East German citizens had of the Stasi the last bastion of the SED dictatorship 50 9 The Stasi was dissolved on 13 January 1990 31 In 2013 five of the Women for Change were awarded the City of Erfurt s medal of honour for their courage in leading the occupation 55 Establishment of the Memorial and Education Centre edit nbsp The Kubus a glass box on which the story of the protests and the occupation of Stasi premises in Erfurt is told in comic book style After German reunification the building was used as a men s prison until 22 January 2002 The remaining 170 inmates were transferred to a new prison in Thuringia The former men s section on the second floor was not used after 1989 and it remained preserved as it was in the GDR period 61 From 2002 the condition of the empty building deteriorated while the state government decided what to do with it 62 From 2005 exhibitions on the history of the site were set up in the former prison and from 2006 tours of the site were given mainly by former inmates 63 On New Year s Eve 2010 three former inmates occupied the building and began a hunger strike They felt that their views were not being taken into account in the government s plans for the development of the memorial site 46 On 18 March 2010 it was agreed by various interested parties that contemporary witnesses to the events would be central to the project and this was confirmed with the Thuringia Ministry of Culture on 26 March 63 The prison was transferred to the Stiftung Ettersberg at the end of 2011 and plans were developed for the memorial centre aiming to preserve the authenticity of the original site but also to create a modern museum Participants in the 1989 protests former prison inmates and former Stasi staff were all involved 64 The Kubus der Friedlichen Revolution Cube of the Peaceful Revolution was built in the courtyard This is a 7 5 metre 25 ft high glass cube on which the story of the protest movement in Thuringia and the occupation of the prison and Stasi headquarters is told in the style of a graphic novel The 40 metre long 130 ft mural created by the artist Simon Schwartz wraps around the cube 65 Schwartz used over 100 contemporaneous photographs as a basis for his drawings 66 The Memorial and Education Centre opened to the public on 4 December 2013 the anniversary of the citizens occupation of the Erfurt Stasi headquarters and the prison 33 The redevelopment of the prison received a special recognition award at the 2014 Thuringia State Prize for Architecture and Urban Planning 67 See also edit nbsp East Germany portal Berlin Hohenschonhausen Memorial DDR Museum Stasi Museum Berlin Notes edit East Germany used the death penalty until 1981 It was carried out in the early period by guillotine and later by a shot in the back of the neck at execution facilities in Dresden and from 1960 to 1981 in Leipzig 42 The exact number of people executed is not known because causes of death were sometimes falsified but more than 160 people were executed in the GDR era about a third of these were Nazi war criminals 43 The GDR formally abolished the death penalty in June 1987 44 The writer and artist Gabriele Stotzer de who had been held in Andreasstrasse and Hoheneck prisons in the 1970 s for signing a petition supporting the exiled singer Wolf Biermann was one of the Women for Change group 56 Other women from Women for Change also occupied the Stasi county office in Strasse der Einheit outside of the city centre from 12 pm on the same day 55 In Erfurt not only the Stasi district headquarters county office and prison were occupied In addition on 4 December 1989 alone citizens went to 37 conspiratorial apartments looking for Stasi documents to protect from destruction These were apartments distributed throughout the city which were used by the Stasi to conduct their covert activities There were known to be several hundred such apartments in Erfurt Over the days that followed the first occupation more and more of them were sought out by the protesters 55 References edit a b Wustenberg 2017 p 223 a b Voit 2016 p 27 a b Maser amp Veen 2015 pp 5 7 Voit 2016 p 4 a b Kaule amp Wolle 2018 p 88 a b c d e How ordinary people smashed the Stasi in The Local de 4 December 2014 Retrieved 25 July 2019 Voit 2016 p 5 Voit 2016 pp 6 7 a b c Rassloff Steffen 3 May 2014 Gedenk und Bildungsstatte Andreasstrasse Vom Handlerviertel zum Stasiknast Denkmale in Erfurt 147 Die Gedenkstatte in der Andreasstrasse steht auf historischem Boden Beitrag der Serie Denkmale in Erfurt aus der Thuringer Allgemeine on www efurt web de permanent dead link Retrieved 20 July 2019 a b Maser amp Veen 2015 p 136 Voit 2016 p 9 a b Maser amp Veen 2015 p 137 Verein der Freunde der Citadelle Petersberg zu Erfurt e V 2015 Stanton 2006 p 150 Maser amp Veen 2015 p 138 Neubert amp Auerbach 2005 p 18 Maser amp Veen 2015 pp 138 139 Neubert amp Auerbach 2005 p 19 Maser amp Veen 2015 pp 139 140 Kermarrec 2003 p 17 a b Maser amp Veen 2015 p 40 The Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic BStU The Founding of the MfS Archived 20 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 21 August 2019 Voit 2016 pp 26 27 Kermarrec 2003 pp 19 20 a b Maser amp Veen 2015 p 141 Maser amp Veen 2015 p 18 a b c Weinke 2018 p 193 Haines Gavin 6 November 2014 East Germany s trade in human beings on BBC News Online Retrieved 30 July 2019 Iken Katja 24 October 2011 Haftlingsdeals mit der DDR Menschen gegen Maisladungen in Spiegel Online Retrieved 30 July 2019 a b Maser amp Veen 2015 p 142 a b Vilasi 2015 Childs 2014 p 104 a b Maser amp Veen 2015 p 143 Maser amp Veen 2015 p 39 Maser amp Veen 2015 pp 18 23 Voit 2016 p 34 Voit 2016 p 42 Voit 2016 p 44 Voit 2016 p 33 Biographische Datenbanken Biermann Wolf Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED Diktatur Retrieved 29 July 2019 Voit 2016 p 36 Runde Ecke Leipzig Execution site Retrieved 18 August 2019 Voit 2016 p 31 a b Childs amp Popplewell 2016 p 202 Maser amp Veen 2015 p 22 a b Protestaktion Ex Haftlinge besetzen ehemaliges Stasi Gefangnis in Spiegel Online 2 January 2010 Retrieved 2 August 2019 Maser amp Veen 2015 p 24 Voit 2016 p 37 Rassloff 2016 p 17 a b c d Rassloff Steffen 27 October 2012 Besetzung Stasi Bezirksverwaltung 1989 Die Angst uberwunden Denkmale in Erfurt 69 Mit der Besetzung der ersten Stasi Bezirksverwaltung gab Erfurt am 4 Dezember 1989 ein DDR weites Signal Beitrag der Serie Denkmale in Erfurt aus der Thuringer Allgemeine on www efurt web de permanent dead link Retrieved 25 July 2019 Hoffmeister amp Hemple 2000 pp 91 96 Rassloff 2016 pp 44 45 Tomforde Anna 19 Oct 1989 East Germans oust Honecker in The Guardian Retrieved 4 August 2019 Guenther 2010 pp 124 125 a b c d e f Stotzer Gabriele 10 April 2018 Fur Angst blieb keine Zeit on Bundeszentrale fur politische Bildung website Retrieved 6 August 2019 Maser amp Veen 2015 p 104 Horakova 2018 p 143 Voit 2016 pp 50 53 MDR Zeitreise Das Stasi Gefangnis in Erfurt on MDR website Retrieved 4 August 2019 Rassloff 2016 pp 58 59 Voit 2016 p 54 Voit 2016 p 55 a b Gedenk und Bildungsstatte Andreasstrsse Kurze chronologie der ereignisse on Gesellschaft fur Zeitgeschichte website Retrieved 9 August 2019 Voit 2016 p 56 Voit 2016 p 59 Anerkennung fur Erfurter Kubus von Simon Schwartz Avant verlag news 3 December 2014 Retrieved 10 August 2019 Thuringer Staatspreis fur Architektur und Stadtebau 2014 on Thueringia de Retrieved 10 August 2019Bibliography editChilds David 2014 The Fall of the GDR Abingdon Routledge ISBN 978 1 3158 4051 2 Retrieved 25 July 2019 Childs David Popplewell Richard 2016 Stasi The East German Intelligence and Security Service Berlin Springer ISBN 978 0 333 77207 2 Retrieved 25 August 2019 Guenther Katja M 2010 Building across the Border Erfurt and Western German Feminism In Van Dyke Nella McCammon Holly J eds Strategic Alliances Coalition Building and Social Movements Minneapolis University Of Minnesota Press ISBN 978 0 8166 6734 5 Retrieved 25 July 2019 Hoffmeister Hans Hemple Mirko eds 2000 Die Wende in Thuringen ein Ruckblick 2nd ed Arnstadt Weimar Thuringische Landeszeitung Rhino Verlag Horakova Anna 2018 Learning from the Underground Christa Wolf and the Fourth Generation of GDR writers In Klocke Sonja E Hosek Jennifer R eds Christa Wolf A Companion Berlin De Gruyter ISBN 978 3 11 049600 0 Retrieved 25 July 2019 Kaule Martin Wolle Stefan 2018 100 Orte der DDR Geschichte Berlin Christoph Links Verlag ISBN 978 3 96289 000 1 Kermarrec Philippe 2003 Der 17 Juni 1953 im Bezirk Erfurt Erfurt Verein fur die Geschichte und Altertumskunde von Erfurt e V ISBN 3 9807188 6 7 Mahlert Ulrich 2019 Von der Friedlichen Revolution zur deutschen Einheit From Peaceful Revolution to German Unity in English and German Berlin Jaron Verlag ISBN 978 3 89773 864 5 Maser Peter Veen Hans Joachim eds 2015 Haft Diktatur Revolution Thuringen 1949 1989 Das Buch zur Gedenk und Bildungsstatte Andreasstrasse Erfurt Weimar Erfurt Stiftung Ettersberg ISBN 978 3 943098 13 6 Neubert Ehrhart Auerbach Thomas 2005 Es kann anders werden Opposition und Widerstand in Thuringen 1945 1989 Koln Weimar Wien Bohlau Verlag ISBN 3 412 08804 8 Rassloff Steffen 2016 2009 Friedliche Revolution und Landesgrundung in Thuringen 1989 90 6th ed Erfurt Schriften der Landeszentrale fur politische Bildung Thuringen ISBN 978 3 943588 84 2 Rassloff Steffen 2013 100 Denkmale in Erfurt Geschichte und Geschichten Essen Klartext ISBN 978 3 8375 0987 8 Stanton Shelby 2006 World War II Order of Battle An Encyclopedic Reference to U S Army Ground Forces from Battalion through Division 1939 1946 Revised ed Mechanicsburg Pennsylvania Stackpole Books ISBN 978 0 811701 57 0 Verein der Freunde der Citadelle Petersberg zu Erfurt e V 2015 350 Jahre Zitadelle Petersberg Tagungsband Wissenschaftliches Kolloquim zum 350 Jahrestages der Grundsteinlegung der Zitadelle Petersberg vom 29 Mai bis 31 Mai 2015 Universitat Erfurt Erfurt Freunde der Citadelle Petersberg zu Erfurt e V Vilasi Antonella Colonna 2015 The History of the Stasi Bloomington Indiana AuthorHouse ISBN 9781504937054 Retrieved 1 August 2019 Voit Jochen 2016 Gedenkstatte Andreasstrasse Haft Diktatur und Revolution in Erfurt Berlin Christoph Links Verlag ISBN 978 3 86153 885 1 Weinke Annette 2018 Law History and Justice Debating German State Crimes in the Long Twentieth Century New York Oxford Berghahn Books ISBN 978 1 7892 0105 5 Retrieved 25 July 2019 Wustenberg Jenny 2017 Civil Society and Memory in Postwar Germany Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 1 1071 7746 8 Retrieved 2 August 2019 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Memorial and Education Centre Andreasstrasse Stiftung Ettersberg Andreasstrasse Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w 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