Leipzig Prison

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Justizvollzugsanstalt Leipzig
Alfred-Kästner-Straße 47 Leipzig.jpg
Entrance to the former prison on Alfred-Kästner-Straße in Leipzig
Coordinates51°19′21″N 12°22′32″E / 51.3226°N 12.3755°E / 51.3226; 12.3755Coordinates: 51°19′21″N 12°22′32″E / 51.3226°N 12.3755°E / 51.3226; 12.3755
Statusclosed and partially demolished
Opened1906
Closed2003
CityLeipzig
CountryGermany

Leipzig Prison (Strafvollzugseinrichtung Leipzig, later Justizvollzugsanstalt Leipzig) was a prison in Leipzig, Germany. Built together with an adjacent court building in 1906, it was used as a prison until 2003. During East German rule, a secret part of the prison was used as the central execution site of East Germany. In 1981, Werner Teske was the final person executed here. The prison was used until 2003, the site is now used as an extension of the nearby court building, with the execution site remaining as a memorial site.

History[]

The prison together with the Royal Saxonian State Court building (which now houses the  [de]) were completed in 1906.[1][2] Its main entrance was on Alfred-Kästner-Straße, which was in the middle of a residential area in the  [de; fr] neighbourhood of Leipzig.[3] It was used as a prison until 2002.[1]

East German execution site[]

Entrance to the execution wing

From 1960, all executions in East Germany took place in the Strafvollzugseinrichtung Leipzig, as the prison was called in East Germany. A separate entrance (Arndtstraße 48) led to the secret execution site.[3] A total of 64 people were executed here.[4] At first, the execution method was a guillotine, but problems with failed executions led to the adoption of the Nahschuss ins Hinterhaupt (close-range shot into the back of the head) as the execution method from 1968.[3][5] The executions were secret and hidden from both the people living nearby and from the inmates of the prison.[6] Executed people included ordinary criminals, Nazi war criminals and former Stasi officials.[4] They were given falsified death certificates, cremated and interred anonymously at Leipzig Südfriedhof cemetery.[6] The last person executed here was Werner Teske, who was shot on 26 June 1981.[5]

Since 2008, a memorial plaque (commissioned by the Leipzig city council and designed by Gerd Nawroth) at the Arndstraße entrance commemorates the execution site.[4] The site can be visited only twice per year: during Long Night of Museums and during Tag des offenen Denkmals,[7] organised by the  [de] Stasi museum association.[8]

Redevelopment[]

Former cell block within Leipzig Prison

Most of the prison was demolished in 2003. However, the historic façades and the execution site were preserved. In 2017, work was started to turn the former prison site into an extension of the nearby court building, starting with offices for public prosecutors.[9][10]

Notable inmates executed at Leipzig Prison[]

Horst Fischer: Participated the selections at Auschwitz concentration camp and was the main camp doctor in the infirmary of the Monowitz concentration camp; executed in 1966. He was the last man to be executed by guillotine in East Germany.

Josef Blösche: War criminal who appeared in the famous photo of the Warsaw Ghetto boy; executed in 1969.

Erwin Hagedorn: Serial killer; executed in 1972. He was the last ordinary criminal executed in East Germany.

Werner Teske: The last man executed in Easy Germany.

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Hausgeschichte". www.runde-ecke-leipzig.de. Archived from the original on 2021-09-21. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  2. ^ "Bald neues Amtsgericht Leipzig". www.medienservice.sachsen.de. Archived from the original on 2021-09-21. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  3. ^ a b c Pankau 2021.
  4. ^ a b c Kaminsky 2016, p. 422.
  5. ^ a b "Der letzte Nahschuss" (in German). Archived from the original on 2021-10-04. Retrieved 2021-10-04.
  6. ^ a b mdr.de 2019.
  7. ^ Kaminsky, Annette (2007). Orte des Erinnerns: Gedenkzeichen, Gedenkstätten und Museen zur Diktatur in SBZ und DDR (in German). Ch. Links Verlag. p. 356. ISBN 978-3-86153-443-3. Archived from the original on 2021-10-04. Retrieved 2021-10-04.
  8. ^ Bürgerkomitee Leipzig (2020). "Museum in der "Runden Ecke" mit dem Museum im Stasi-Bunker". www.runde-ecke-leipzig.de. Archived from the original on 2021-10-04. Retrieved 2021-10-04.
  9. ^ Kreuz, Sabine (2017-07-24). "Staatsanwälte residieren ab 2020 in ehemaligem Leipziger Knast" (in German). Archived from the original on 2021-09-22. Retrieved 2021-10-04.
  10. ^ "Vom Gefängnis zur neuen Leipziger Staatsanwaltschaft" (in German). Archived from the original on 2021-09-21. Retrieved 2021-10-04.

Sources[]

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