Contemporary witnesses wanted: exhibits for the GDR prison exhibition in Potsdam!

Contemporary witnesses wanted: exhibits for the GDR prison exhibition in Potsdam!

In the coming years, the Lindenstrasse Memorial Foundation and the Human Rights Center Cottbus e. V. is planning a special exhibition entitled “Life after prison – life with memory”. This will deal with the experiences of former prisoners from the Potsdam remand center and the Cottbus prison. The aim is to shed light on the biographies of those affected, the effects of political imprisonment as well as the repression and resilience of those imprisoned. The social and political background, rehabilitation and legal processing in reunified Germany are also discussed. The show is scheduled to open its doors in 2026, which is why the organizers are actively looking for memorabilia related to this theme. Personal items, everyday objects, artistic works, photographs and written records that document the lives of the prisoners at the time are particularly in demand. Anyone interested is invited until September 15th to meet with Martina Reimann or Dr. Steffen Alisch should be contacted by email. Meetingpoint Potsdam reports.

But what was actually the reason for creating such an exhibition? The answer lies in the difficult prison conditions in the GDR, which were comprehensively controlled by the SED. Since the beginning of the 1950s, the judicial authorities have been removed from prison administration and placed under the control of the Ministry of the Interior and the People's Police. This decision led to a significant deterioration in prison conditions compared to the Federal Republic, where the state judicial administrations remained responsible. For the inmates of the GDR prisons, the official goal was “education,” but the reality was characterized by arbitrariness and unacceptable conditions. Among other things, there were over 30,000 prisoners and prison conditions were characterized by extreme overcrowding and inadequate access to medical care. The upcoming exhibition will also provide insights into these brutal conditions. The Federal Agency for Civic Education explains.

Historical contexts

It doesn't stop with the individual fates that are to be presented in the exhibition. The social framework conditions are also examined in order to fully understand the picture of political imprisonment in the GDR. Everyday repression and the systematic control of prisoners were reinforced through various approaches by the Ministry of State Security. In particular, “decomposition measures” against prisoners who were considered “enemy-negative” were commonplace, which illustrates the repression. Political prisoners were often mistreated and used as forced labor, which already exceeded the limits of international law at the time. Despite these unimaginable circumstances, many prisoners were able to articulate their protest and tried to draw attention to their situation through hunger strikes or other means.

Memories and personal accounts are invaluable in helping to understand the prisoners' suffering. The planned exhibition aims to bring these voices back into the public's memory and therefore invites everyone to share their stories and memorabilia. In addition to the hard facts, it is above all the human aspect, the individual fates and how they have developed further despite all adversities, which is a central concern of the exhibition. Meetingpoint Potsdam has the details in mind.