Photographs and Eyewitness Accounts from a Stasi Jail
“Detained” examines what life was like behind bars in an East German jail, at the height of the Cold War. Berlin photographer Franziska Vu has taken a dual approach to this topic. Looking through the eye of her lens, she has created a photographic tour of the premises – an artist’s view of the powerlessness, fear, and isolation, but also the hope experienced by prisoners. At the same time, Vu has also conducted interviews with former inmates to link these visual impressions with eyewitness accounts, and give a voice to those who were silenced behind these concrete walls. By combining photographic art with real-life experiences, and merging artistic expression with political issues, she has created a powerful exhibition that compels us to reflect on recent German history and the country’s efforts to come to terms with its past.
Behind every image, there are stories, and in order to understand the interviews in this book, it is important to place them in their historical context. After the Second World War, Germany and Berlin were divided into zones of occupation by the Allies. In 1949, two German states came into existence, West Germany (the Federal Republic of Germany) and East Germany (the German Democratic Republic, GDR). As the Cold War heated up, many East Germans defected to the West. East Germany’s ruling party (the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, SED) could do little to stem this exodus, despite the draconian methods employed by its infamous secret police, officially known as the Ministry for State Security (the Stasi). Finally, in an attempt to seal the border completely, in August 1961, the GDR built the Berlin Wall. Up until the end of the dictatorship in the autumn of 1989, East German citizens remained largely under the control of the state, as documented in the extensive files kept by the Stasi that were made public after the fall of the Wall.
Over a decade and a half later, however, many people still do not fully realize what happened under the Stasi. Very little has been published about the dark side of life in the former GDR and what occurred in detention centers like the Stasi jail at Berlin-Hohenschönhausen.
The Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial has special historical significance because this former jail, the largest one operated by the East German secret police, was primarily used to detain “enemies of the state”. The vast majority of the detainees were put behind bars for their political views. Even critics of the SED from the West were abducted by the Stasi and brought to Berlin-Hohenschönhausen.
In 1951, the Stasi took over the jail with its underground cells from the Soviets. During the late fifties, prisoners were used to build an additional 200 cells and interrogation rooms. This huge prison complex was located in a secret restricted area that was not included on any city map. Most of the population in the East and the West knew nothing of its existence, and even inmates had no knowledge of where they were being held. The Stasi relied heavily on psychological methods to break down prisoners, who were placed in solitary confinement and cut off from the outside world. Although West Germany was able to buy the release of some individuals, it was not until the political collapse of East Germany in 1990 that the last prisoners were released.
We would like to express our special thanks to the interviewees for their role in the project. These former inmates have had the courage to speak openly of their fears and traumatic experiences. Their accounts have helped expose the deeds committed by the Stasi. Now it is our responsibility to make public what happened behind these walls of concrete!
Kulturring in Berlin e.V.
