Berlin

Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial:

The site of the main remand prison for people detained by the former East German Ministry of State Security (MfS), or 'Stasi', has been a Memorial since 1994 and, from 2000 on, has been an independent Foundation under public law. The Memorial's charter specifically entrusts it with the task of researching the history of the Hohenschönhausen prison between 1945 and 1989, supplying information via exhibitions, events and publications, and encouraging a critical awareness of the methods and consequences of political persecution and suppression in the communist dictatorship. Since the vast majority of the buildings, equipment and furniture and fittings have survived intact, the Memorial provides a very authentic picture of prison conditions in the GDR. Tours of the prison are usually led by former inmates, who provide first-hand details on prison conditions and the interrogation methods employed by the GDR's Ministry of State Security (MfS).

More info:
Website of the Hohenschönhausen Memorial:
http://en.stiftung-hsh.de/

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Berlin-Wall Memorial

The Berlin Wall Memorial is the central memorial site of German division, located in the middle of the capital. Situated at the historic site on BernauerStrasse, the first part of the Memorial was opened in 1998; several parts have been added since and the Memorial will eventually extend along 1.4 kilometers of the former border strip. The memorial contains the last piece of Berlin Wall with the preserved grounds behind it and is thus able to convey an impression of how the border fortifications developed until the end of the 1980s. The Memorial extends along both sides of the BernauerStrasse: on the border strip that had been located in East Berlin, an open-air exhibition uses the BernauerStrasse to explain the history of division; the memorial also includes the Monument in Memory of the Divided City and the Victims of Communist Tyranny and the Window of Remembrance. The Chapel of Reconciliation is also a part of this ensemble. On the other side of the street that belonged to the western part of the city, the newly constructed Visitor Center and the Documentation Center with a viewing platform and the exhibition about the time when the Berlin Wall was built in August 1961.

More info:
Website of the Berlin Wall Foundation
http://www.berliner-mauer-gedenkstaette.de/en/

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The Memorial Sites of RosenthalerStrasse 39

Situated just nearby HackescheHöfe, in the former Jewish quarter in the centre of Berlin, the RosenthalerStrasse 39 is hosting three different memory sites linked to the history of the Jews during the Third Reich.

• “Silent Heroes Memorial Centar” which commemorates individuals who helped persecuted Jews during the National Socialist dictatorship.
  More info:
  Article about helpers:
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/02/nazi-jew-hitler-schindler-holocaust
• One of the helpers was Otto Weidt, owner of a small factory which produced broomsand brushes, in which he employed mainly blind and deaf Jews here during World War II.The »Otto Weidt Museum Workshop for the Blind« commemorates the small entrepreneur and the fate of the Jews whose deportation he could either push off or prevent entirely.
  More info:
  Website of the Blindenwerkstatt Memoria
  http://www.museum-blindenwerkstatt.de/en/first-of-all/
• The Anne-Frank-Centar (Anne Frank Zentrum), the partner-organization of the Anne Frank House in The Netherlands with an exhibition that focuses on the diary and the story of the life of Anne Frank and organizes educational activities especially directed towards young people.
  More info:
  Website of the Anne Frank Zentrum:
  http://www.annefrank.de/exhibition-in-berlin/anne-frank-here-now/visitor-information

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