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Schools and colleges
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Students at a wreath-laying ceremony, april 2007.
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the East German communist system, a whole new generation has grown up which has never had to confront the reality of life in the GDR. As a part of the process to counter the increasing ignorance about the second German dictatorship, the Berlin State Senator for Science, Research and Culture decided to establish an Education Services Office at the Memorial. The Office is staffed by three experienced teaching professionals to provide appropriate support for students and teachers visiting the site.
Berlin has implemented new curricula that requires the increased use of learning locations outside school. The Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial is just such a location, reflecting, more thoroughly than almost any other, the history of political persecution during the decades of the communist dictatorship in East Germany. Immediately after the end of the Second World War, the Soviet authorities established Special Camp No. 3, a detainment and transit camp where hundreds of prisoners died. Soon after the Camp was established, a cellar prison was constructed which served as the main Soviet Secret Police prison for detention and interrogation in Germany. This cell block was dubbed the "U-Boot" or "Submarine". Ultimately, the East German Ministry of State Security – the 'Stasi' – took over the prison, built a new complex and, until 1990, used it as the main GDR remand centre. As a result of German reunification, the prison was then closed. In 1994, it was officially listed as a Memorial site.
The vivid impression given by the former prison encourages young people to critically reflect on the GDR dictatorship, and such visits are especially memorably since they involve a guided tour with former inmates. The programme of seminars and project days facilitates an encounter with recent German history that often has a far greater impact than many classroom lessons.
 Teaching materials on political persecution in the GDR
A cooperation between the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial and the Berlin Landesinstitut für Schule und Medien.
Together with experienced teaching professionals, the Berlin Landesinstitut für Schule und Medien (LISUM) and the Hohenschönhausen Memorial have developed practice-oriented supplementary teaching materials. The teaching materials include both content and tips on teaching methods, give teachers information about the Soviet system of camps in Germany and the Ministry of State Security and details on the victims of communist persecution. The teaching units, lesson plans and worksheets with tasks, texts, pictures and songs are designed for direct and flexible classroom use. Please notice, that teaching materials are, as of now, only available in German. Contact partner and registration.
- Download: Unterrichtsmaterial (PDF, 6 MB) german version.
Contact
Educational Services Office
Karsten Harfst, Ute Kietzmann, Steffen Noack
Tel: +49 (0)30 - 9 86 08 24 26
Civic Education Officer
N.N.
Visitors' Service
Tel: +49 (0)30 - 98 60 82 30
Please use our contact-site if you want to send us an email. Thank you.
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