Memorial and Education Centre Andreasstrasse

關於

The Memorial and Education Centre Andreasstraße (German: Gedenk- und Bildungsstätte Andreasstraße), is a museum in Erfurt, Germany, which is housed in a former prison used by the East German Ministry for State Security (Stasi). It is informally known as the Stasi Museum.

From 1952 until 1989, over 5000 political prisoners were held on remand and interrogated in the Andreasstraße prison, which was one of 17 Stasi remand prisons in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). The museum was opened in 2013 as a memorial to repression and resistance in the Thuringia region during the GDR dictatorship. Its permanent exhibitions focus on the experiences of the prison's inmates, the activities of the Stasi, life under the dictatorship, and the Peaceful Revolution which led to German reunification.

On 4 December 1989, local citizens stormed and occupied the prison as well as the neighbouring Stasi district headquarters to stop the mass destruction of Stasi files. Some Stasi employees were thrown out of upper floor windows and beaten after falling to the streets below, but there were no deaths or serious injuries. It was the first of many occupations of Stasi premises throughout the country, and it was a milestone in the Peaceful Revolution. It led to the preservation and opening of Stasi files so that citizens could see what information was held on them and so that the crimes of the Stasi could be exposed.

The prison was opened in 1878 and held political prisoners for several different political regimes until 1989. It was closed in 2002.

The Memorial and Education Centre Andreasstrasse is managed by the Stiftung Ettersberg.

內容改寫自 Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。照片來自 Wikimedia Commons.