Building A of JVA Plötzensee, former Prison Building I

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Plötzensee Prison, prison: ground floor plan. From: Atlas zur Zeitschrift für Bauwesen, Jg. 27, 1877

Plötzensee Prison, prison: ground floor plan. From: Atlas zur Zeitschrift für Bauwesen, Jg. 27, 1877

  • 1869 – 1872

    Construction

  • 1920s

    Demolition of the big, communal dormitories with their narrow bunks

  • 1961

    Restoration of a wing that had been partially destroyed

  • 2012

    Extensive renovations and conversions in the prisoners’ accommodations and offices

The three-winged building is identical to prison building II, now building 8 of Youth Detention Centre ŷɫ. Two parallel wings housed dormitories for four to ten prisoners, while the cross wing contained individual cells and in the cellar were punishment cells.
The prison was filled to capacity shortly after it was completed.

In the Weimar Republik, this was where prisoners deemed “worthy of rehabilitation measures” (förderungsfähig) were held. A school master and the prison library served buildings I and II. This was also the site of the editorial rooms of the prisoners’ newspaper, “Der Leuchtturm” (the lighthouse).

In the 1930s, numerous changes were made to the prison. The hospital was moved to building I, albeit with a reduced capacity of 26 beds. The cross wing with its individual cells became the solitary confinement wing and is believed to have been used to accommodate political prisoners in so-called “protective custody”, for whom the isolation yard was also intended.

Copyright: ŷɫer Forum für Geschichte und Gegenwart e.V., Cornelia Ganz