Plötzensee prison memorial is a space dedicated to political prisoners (and others) who were executed there by the National Socialists. It is a still-functioning prison in the Charlottenburg-Nord area of Berlin. Though it was constructed outside city limits in 1868, the area has since expanded to include sprawling residential and industrial areas. In the United States, prisons tend to be built in secluded areas, so I was struck by the proximity of prisoners and the free people living their busy lives directly outside the windows of the complex.
When the National Socialists took power in 1933 the prison system became an institution of violent deterrence, intended for the “eradication of inferior elements of the population”. Over half of the prisoners executed at Plötzensee were political dissidents who opposed the Nazi regime, most of whom were found guilty by the fraudulent Volksgerichtshof (People’s Court) under the jurisdiction of Roland Freisler, who was also a participant in the discussions about the “Final Solution” at the Wannsee Conference house. Unfortunately, violent repression was the response to those who opposed the National Socialists in any way. Punishable crimes were intentionally worded vaguely, and included ‘defeatism’, treason, owning banned literature, printing unsanctioned materials, etc. The regime used sadistic brutality to punish– and to deter– resisters, and that’s where the memorial is most affective.
The memorial, a bit of specific and obscure history, was completely empty of people except two construction workers fixing a pathway. The space is rimmed in high walls with razor wire, presumably to keep current prisoners from attempting escape (as an aside: it seemed rather cruel/ironic/absurd to allow modern prisoners to see the memorial from their cells). I walked into the “execution shed”, the tiny two-roomed building used to carry out the majority of executions. On the far wall were 8 meat-hooks, where thousands of people were murdered by increasingly barbarous means, including hanging a person from the hook using thin metal wire with their toes able to touch the floor, slowly and eventually causing death by asphyxiation or decapitation. In the adjacent room would have been where the guillotine was located (personally requested as a form of execution by Hitler in 1936 to replace the axe that had been used until then). Today there is only an ominous porcelain-tiled slab where the guillotine once stood, the ugly yellowish tiles contrasted against the rudimentary wooden shed walls created an effect that made it easy to imagine the horrific scenes that happened there.
To put the number of executions into perspective, during the 42 years between 1890 and 1932, approximately 36 convicts were executed at Plötzensee. Alternatively, during the 12 years of National Socialist rule, 2,891 people were executed, over half of whom were Germans. After air raids on Berlin destroyed the guillotine in June of 1943, the “Bloody Nights of Plötzensee” took place on June 7th-12th. Over 250 prisoners were hanged (using only the 8 meat hooks) without clemency proceedings. Six of them had not even been sentenced to death.
I have wanted to see the memorial at Plötzensee Prison since becoming interested in the minutiae of resistance to Nazis in Europe over a decade ago. At Plötzensee I sat for a very long time on the concrete floor thinking about the history of the place, and imagining/appreciating the risk and personal sacrifice it takes to oppose wrong in this world. These places of violence are sad, terrifying, and grotesque but they are also hopeful and inspiring. I wish this memorial was visited more often, because it seems to be slipping into an unfortunate obscurity.
Though I have written a rather long post already, I think it is important to portray these people as humans of varying beliefs and backgrounds, rather than only statistics. They all risked (and lost) their lives so that the world they lived in might be different and/or better. So, here are but a few examples of the thousands of political prisoners who were murdered by the Nazis at Plötzensee Prison.
Helmuth James Graf von Moltke
Executed as one of the leaders of the resistance group “Kraisau Circle”, along with several others involved in the group’s non-violent opposition to Nazis. Graf von Moltke was able to write letters from a sub-prison of Plötzensee while he awaited his execution. Written to his wife, Freya and two sons, the letters were compiled and published by Freya after the war as the book “Letzte Briefe aus dem Gefängnis Tegel” (Last Letters from Tegel Prison”).
Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, defending himself in front of Roland Freisler’s People’s Court, to deaf ears.
His guilt was predetermined and no defendants had access to attorneys.
Rote Kapelle (Red Orchestra) and Harro Schulze-Boysen
Schulze-Boysen and his wife, Libertas, were well-positioned and influential in the Nazi party. They risked their lives by collecting photos and documents for the Allies about the atrocities of the Final Solution, distributing leaflets about Nazi crimes on the Eastern Front, and passing information on German troop movements to leaders in Moscow. The Gestapo discovered the resistance group by intercepting one of these communications. The meat hook method was imagined and developed specifically as an especially torturous death for Schulze-Boysen and seven of his friends. Over 50 members of the group, ranging in age from 16 to 70, were murdered on December 22, 1942 by hanging or guillotine for “conspiracy to commit high treason”.
Schulze-Boysen and wife Libertas. Their wedding was attended by Hermann Göring.
Schulze-Boysen in his Wehrmacht uniform after arrest.
Liselotte Herrmann
Liselotte was a member of the German Communist Party (KPD), and was expelled from Berlin University as a communist in 1933. During 1934 she worked at a munitions factory and passed sensitive and crucial information about arms manufacturing to the KPD central committee in Switzerland. She was murdered at Plötzensee in 1938 at age 28 for “treason and preparation for high treason”.
Karlrobert Kreiten
Kreiten was one of the most influential and important German pianists of the time period. While on tour in March 1943, after the defeat of the German army at Stalingrad, he commented to a friend that the war was lost and that Hitler was “a madman”. He was overheard by an attendee, who turned him into the authorities. Roland Freisler sentenced him to death for “demoralizing the troops, aiding the enemy, and defeatist statements”, he was murdered in the execution shed at age 27.
A young Kreiten before arrest.
World History on the German Stage 