Opening: Thursday, August 14, 2025, 6:00 PM
Welcome:
Dr. Carola Brückner, District Councillor for Culture
Dr. Urte Evert, Museum Director
Introductory Lecture:
Dr. Johannes Füllberth, Department Head at the Berlin State Library
“And where exactly was Rudolf Hess imprisoned here?” is a common question asked by visitors to the Spandau Citadel. The answer is: “Nowhere.” The so-called war criminals’ prison, with Hess as its last inmate, was located in Spandau’s Wilhelmstadt. In 1877, construction began there on a new “central fortress prison”, which housed convicted soldiers and prisoners of war starting in 1881. After a spectacular jailbreak during the November Revolution in 1918, the building — designed for 300 inmates — was used as a civilian prison until 1933. The National Socialist regime immediately repurposed the prison after the Reichstag fire as a site of “preventive protective custody.” Until 1945, many political prisoners were incarcerated there, most of whom were sentenced to death — for the first time, this included women, especially from the Polish resistance.
Yet today, public memory focuses mainly on the prison internationally known as “Spandau Prison”, which housed the seven war criminals sentenced at Nuremberg — despite being demolished immediately after Hess’s suicide in 1987.
The exhibition at the Zeughaus of the Citadel tells the full history of the prison on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the end of the war. Alongside some objects and images — some shown for the first time — interviews with eyewitnesses offer new perspectives. The idea of translating certain events into the visual language of comics invites further discussion.
The history of the prison also sparks debates on present-day issues:
What should the purpose of prison sentences be in a democratic society?
What are the consequences of international arrest warrants for heads of state today?
How do conspiracy narratives arise?
Is demolishing buildings from the Nazi era an effective way to, for example, prevent far-right rallies at those sites?
You are warmly invited to visit the exhibition and accompanying program, and to join the discussion!
