Potsdam Remembers: The Shocking Secrets of the NKVD Prison!

Potsdam Remembers: The Shocking Secrets of the NKVD Prison!

The chapter of Soviet prison history in Potsdam will be reopened with the new special exhibition “The Gray Misery of Potsdam”, which will be on view from September 26, 2025. In a comprehensive research project, the Lindenstrasse Foundation has shed light on the fates of the people who were imprisoned in the NKVD remand prison on Lindenstrasse between 1945 and 1952. According to a report by World Many people were arrested there on vague accusations such as espionage and anti-Soviet propaganda, often without any evidence.

97-year-old Jochen Stern, who was arrested by Soviet soldiers in Frankfurt (Oder) in 1947, provides a haunting testimony to this dark time. After his arrest, he spent eleven months in prison until he was sentenced by a military tribunal to 25 years in a labor camp. Stern is one of the last contemporary witnesses who can still report on these painful experiences.

The History of the Prison

The prison, also known as “Grey Misery,” has a dark history. The Red Army took over Lindenstrasse in April 1945, and central supervision was given to the NKVD in July 1945. The facility was not only used for incarceration, but was also the scene of torture and severe prison conditions in which many prisoners suffered. MEMORIAL Germany highlights that prison conditions were miserable and many prisoners suffered from poor nutrition and psychological and physical torture.

From 1945 to 1950, around 1,860 people were documented during this period, with 82% being German and 16% being Soviet citizens. The detainees also included 224 women and 109 young people under the age of 18. In the early years, many of those arrested were tried by military tribunals, resulting in over 150 death sentences. The search for relatives, who often lost their loved ones and received no information about their whereabouts, will also be the subject of the exhibition.

A unique place of memory

The prison on Lindenstrasse is the only original Soviet remand prison in Germany and therefore plays a central role in the culture of commemoration and remembrance. MEMORIAL Germany has campaigned for years to preserve the building, which was in use until 1994 and now functions as a memorial. After extensive renovations and the establishment of a visitor center, the memorial was officially opened on December 5, 2008.

In the coming weeks, the new exhibition “The Gray Misery of Potsdam” will offer visitors the opportunity to understand the horrors and inhumanity of this time through the eyes of contemporary witnesses such as Jochen Stern and Helga Wunsch. This is not only a reminder of what happened, but also a reminder to society not to forget the past and to learn from it.

The dark history of the NKVD prison is kept alive through this exhibition and at the same time serves as a platform for future generations to question and collectively process the horrors of totalitarian systems. The path to knowledge begins in the heart of Potsdam, where history comes to life.