The Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial (Gedenkstätte Berlin-Hohenschönhausen), Genslerstraße 66 (13055 Berlin), occupies the former central remand prison of the Stasi, East Germany's political police. You explore the site on a guided tour of about 90 minutes, led by former political prisoners or by historians, while the permanent exhibitions are free to visit on your own. Open daily from 10:00 to 18:00; a guided tour costs €9. The Soviet occupiers set up Special Camp No. 3 here in May 1945, through which more than 16,000 people passed, then a prison in the cellar of a former canteen kitchen. The Stasi took over the site in 1951 and held around 11,000 people here until 1989, first in the cellar and then in a new building completed in 1960. The prison closed on 3 October 1990, the day of reunification; the memorial has operated here since 1994.
Highlights
The tour with a former prisoner
The heart of the visit: after an introductory film, a guide leads you through the buildings for about 90 minutes. Some tours are led by former political prisoners, who describe their arrest, their detention and the interrogations. A first-hand account gives the place a weight that information panels alone cannot convey.
The new building and its cells
Built by prisoners in the late 1950s and completed in 1960, it has more than 100 cells on three floors, most of them single cells, plus an interrogation wing. From the 1960s onwards, the Stasi replaced physical violence with psychological torture here: isolation and interrogations repeated over months to extract confessions. Prisoners included the journalist Karl Wilhelm Fricke, the dissident Rudolf Bahro, the writer Jürgen Fuchs and the civil rights activist Bärbel Bohley.
The site and the restricted area
Walls, watchtowers, yards and garages: the prison compound survives intact. Around it, a whole district formed a restricted area closed to civilians, where the Stasi also ran a secret labour camp, "Lager X". The site also housed the Stasi's central prison hospital, which treated detainees from all over East Germany.
The permanent exhibition
"Inhaftiert in Hohenschönhausen" (Imprisoned at Hohenschönhausen) covers political persecution from 1945 to 1989 across 700 m², with rare objects, documents and photographs. A second exhibition, "In Zwangsgemeinschaft" (Involuntary Community), is devoted to the women prisoners used for maintenance work in the prison. Both exhibitions are free and can be visited without a guide, daily from 10:00 to 18:00 for the first and from 10:00 to 16:00 for the second.
Tour times and prices
Tours in German: from March to October, daily every hour from 10:00 to 16:00; from November to February, at 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00 on weekdays and every hour from 10:00 to 16:00 at weekends. In English: daily at 10:40, 12:40 and 14:40. In Russian: on the first Sunday of the month at 14:15. There is no public tour in French, but groups of 7 or more can book a tour in French (€110 per group of up to 25 people). Standard €9, concessions €5, school pupils €2.50.
Infos pratiques
Tips
Book your guided tour in the Foundation's online ticket shop, on its official website. Without a booking, you can still walk round the exhibitions free of charge. The tour is recommended from age 14. Not all buildings are fully wheelchair accessible. Prices checked in October 2026.
How to get there
Genslerstraße 66, 13055 Berlin (Alt-Hohenschönhausen, in the Lichtenberg district). Tram M5 to Freienwalder Straße, or tram M6 and 16 to Genslerstraße; bus 256 to Große-Leege-Straße/Freienwalder Straße. The memorial advises against using Hohenschönhausen S-Bahn station. Free parking for cars and coaches right next to the site. Cafeteria and bookshop on site.
Opening hours
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