During the time of the SED dictatorship, the State Security compound on Bautzner Straße in Dresden was the site of a comprehensive repressive apparatus, responsible for political persecution, imprisonment and psychological torture. This surveillance and detention complex grew up in the middle of Dresden's Elbe slope, which until then had stood for upscale living with a view of the city and its river. This is where the security apparatuses of the Soviet occupation forces and the GDR set up their headquarters for the state of Saxony and later for the district of Dresden. From then on, the undestroyed buildings near the barracks in the north of Dresden, where the Soviet occupation troops were housed, served the work of the secret services. In the following decades, the security complex grew with the number of its employees and informers. The memorial is an impressive testimony to the lack of freedom in the GDR. A tour shows how the repressive apparatus tried to eliminate its opponents.

The former remand centre has been a listed building since 1994. When it was reopened to the public for the first time in the same year, several thousand interested visitors came in two days. In the following years, however, the empty state of the detention building led to frost damage and vandalism. In 1997, the association "Erkenntnis durch Erinnerung e. V." (Knowledge through Remembrance) was founded and took over the sponsorship of the future memorial.

PROGRAMME

10:00-12:00
Topography of Security
Tour of the former State Security area on the slopes of the Elbe in Dresden

10:00-16:00
Short guided tours every hour on the hour

10:00-18:00
"17 June compact. The People's Uprising in the GDR 1953"
Poster exhibition in the cafeteria

10:00-18:00
"From Soviet basement prison to camp"
Audio guide. Contemporary witnesses tell about their personal fate

In the audio guide, contemporary witnesses Peter Eberle, Werner Gumpel and Siegfried Jenkner guide visitors through the cellar rooms and describe their personal experiences during imprisonment. In addition to the personal accounts, visitors are introduced to the historical context of the early occupation period.

10:00-18:00
Search for clues
Family offer

The exciting search for the solutions leads to interesting places within the house.

10:00-18:00
Citizens' advice and application acceptance with the Stasi documents archive Dresden

10:00-18:00
Drinks and snacks in the cafeteria

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