The town of prisons
During the communist rule Bautzen was infamous as the location of various prisons for heavy criminals, in particular spies, human traffickers and opponents of the regime.
Entrance to the Bautzen II prison
Bautzen II had been a prison as annex to the court building since 1901. Already during the Nazi era the prison was used for interrogation and “Schutzhaft”, the imprisonment of political enemies for their own safety. After the war it was used by the Soviets for denazification. Several thousands of these prisoners were killed in Bautzen, in particular in the prison Bautzen IV, called “gelbes Elend” (yellow misery). Each floor of the museum in the prison is dedicated to one of these time periods. The exhibition shows examples of the typical fate of a prisoner of that time.
The central staircase of the cell building
A typical victim of the soviet denazification period was Fritz Melzer. In Mai 1946 he was arrested on charges of illegal possession of weapons. In August 1946 he was sentenced to 10 years of forced labor for "sabotage". In September 1946 he was transferred to the special camp in Bautzen. On 7. Juli 1947 he died in Bautzen. The soviet camp administration registered his date of death, but not the reason. His remains were buried in a mass grave next to the camp. It took until 1998 for his family to receive a correct death certificate based on information from former prisoners and further research. Many relatives remained completely ignorant of the deceased's fate until the 1990s.
Door of a cell
During the Waldheim trials the soviets put 3500 people in court who already had been imprisoned in different special camps for several years. On soviet orders, twelve grand and eight small criminal chambers of the Regional Court in Chemnitz tried the accused without taking any evidence or indictment. 32 people were sentenced to capital punishment, of whom 24 were executed. The other convicted received sentences of between 10 and 25 years. In the vast majority of cases, the accusations are completely unfounded. Almost all hearings were conducted as closed proceedings.
Cell in the origianl state
In the 1950’ies the prison was taken over by the GDR. The conditions in Bautzen II were better than in the ordinary communist prisons and interrogation centers. After improvements after 1969 straw mats were replaced by proper mattresses, the toilets were improved and little sinks with faucets were introduced, some even with hot water. There was an electrical outlet for immersion heaters and cooking pots. Watches, personal slippers, toiletries and personal belongings like writing utensils, paper, books, and magazines were allowed. All that was untypical for the GDR penal system. The reason was the presence of a number of foreign, in particular prisoners from West Germany. The West German Government had made an agreement that their permanent representation (there was no embassy since they did not recognize the GDR as independent state) was able to visit their nationals.
Shower and bathroom
An interesting and typical case for the time the prison under the administration of the Stasi was Horst Garau. Garau, born in 1939, made a career as school official after he graduated from the regional SED party school. As such he was allowed to travel to the west for congresses and private visits. He was recruited by the State Security's foreign intelligence service as a so-called "travel cadre". During his travels, he served as an "unofficial employee" and instructed spies for their missions in the Federal Republic. Disappointed by the Stasi's surveillance of his own family, Garau turned to the West German Secret Service in 1977 and started a carrier as double agent. However, an employee of the West German secret service revealed his activities as a double agent to the Stasi. In 1986, Garau was sentenced to life imprisonment for espionage by a military court. He served his sentence in strict solitary confinement in Bautzen II. Officially, he committed suicide here on December 12, 1988. To this day, doubts remain about this cause of death.
Improved cell for western guests
I never would have expected to be glad, to even prefer to be in a prison. However, with the searing temperatures outside it is much more pleasant inside the jail. Of course that was different when you were a prisoner here. In winter it was freezing cold in the building which was heated by steam. Into each room a bit of steam was released only twice a day.
The sanitary part of the cells
Under these conditions it was not surprising that the immates had a strong longing to get out.
Dieter Hötger had been sentenced to 9 years in strict solitary confinement after he had built a tunnel with a friend to get his wife out of the GDR. They were betrayed and upon the arrest the friend was shot and Hötger wounded in the chest. Isolated from his fellow inmates, he was locked in work cell no. 18 every day from 5:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. to assemble electrical components. While he wasn't watched, he loosened mortar and bricks of the wall behind the closet of his work cell until a hole appears. He hid a total of 23 bricks behind his work table and got rid of the mortar in the toilet. The growing hole in the wall went unnoticed during the guards' regular inspections. In the early morning of November 28, 1967, Hötger let himself fall through the hole in the 65 cm thick outer wall from a height of 5 meters into the courtyard. Unnoticed, he also climbed over the perimeter wall of the adjacent police compound. There were no guards on duty, and the surveillance equipment was not switched on. Hötger ran out of the city and hid in ditches and bushes. After nightfall, he fled north. He planned to cross the border into West Berlin, but was caught after eight days and sentenced to an additional eight years. In 1972, he was ransomed by the German government.
The cell building
Apart from such a rare spectacular acts the inmates succeeded in small acts of violation. Letters were smuggled out although paper or pens were not allowed. Therefore the public, in particular in the west, came to know about the conditions in the prison and the fate of inmates who simply disappeared behind bars.
In the exhibition room about the time when Bautzen II was a Stasi prison I meet a giant covered in tattoos, t-short imprinted with a wild metal scene, shorts, topknot and flesh tunnel in his ear lobe of at least 2 cm. Such a prison like here at least worked discouraging, he tells me in a quiet, shy voice. A contemporary prison room more resembles a luxury hotel room. He should know, because he was imprisoned twice. I timidly ask him what he had done. Aggravated bodily harm and public destruction. Prison wasn't working as an incentive for change for him. But after his second imprisonment, when his mother refused to talk to him and his girlfriend broke up with him, he changed his life. He moved to another city to escape the bad influence of his friends. At first, no one wanted to give him a job because of his past. But then he worked in Wuppertal for 10 years. He travels a lot, the work is fun, and his girlfriend came back. But his improvement wasn't a result of the penal system. Now he is in Bautzen for his work…. and spends his free afternoon to visit the prison.
Van to transport prisoners
Bautzen was not the only prison like this in the GDR. There is a similar interrogation facility in nearby Dresden and it was also turned into a documentation center which can be visited. However, Bautzen was the biggest and strictest of its kind. After modernization, Bautzen IV, the yellow misery, is still in use today. While I step outside into the heat I ask myself whether they have similar places – and musea – in the neighboring countries like Poland or Czech Republic.
Villa in the neighborhood close to the prison Bautzen II
Interesting enough the neighborhood of the prison is full of magnificent art-deco mansions. They were renovated extensively after half a century of neglect.
Spree valley with the ramparts of Bautzen
Bautzen is known and infamous for its prisons. This is why it's easily overlooked that it also has a picturesque old town nestled on the high bank above the Spree river. From below the old town with its wall and towers it looks very impressive.
Pedestrian zone with the Reichentturm
Unfortunately the castle is closed for a series of theater performances. In the cobbled streets it is difficult to take a picture without a car. The pedestrian zone is restricted to the one shopping street. Compared to Jelenia Góra there are few restaurants with shady terraces tucked away between the parked cars. There are very few people in the streets.
The cobbled streets of Bautzen
I enter a restaurant. The interior is dark to resemble a medieval boarding house. The waiters are clad in brown monks’ habits with a rope around their middle. There is a balcony overlooking river, city wall, castle and valley. However, everybody is inside. What usually is an advantage, a sunny terrace, has turned into a drawback. The waiters are surprised that I still want to sit outside. The fresh abbey beer turns into stale, luke warm brew in a wink of time. But at least the food does not cool down to quickly.
Ruins of the Franciscan monastery
Sources:
Information panels, Gedenkstätte Stasi Gefängnis Bautzen
