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Lindenstrasse 54/55 MemorialPotsdam, Germany More photos
Outside the former prison, the Lindenstrasse looks like an ordinary residential street in the town center.
The bars on the front of the building are the only hint that Lindenstrasse 54/55 isn't an ordinary dwelling.
The prison is bigger than it looks from the street. A new wing with nearly 100 cells was added in 1910.
A memorial statue stands in the prison courtyard.
Nearby are several tiny exercise yards.
Inside the prison, steel stairs lead up to tiers of cells.
During the years 1945 to 1989, when the "Linden Hotel" was a political detention center, inhumane conditions were used to break the will of prisoners. Three to eight inmates were crammed into each cell, where they shared a wooden sleeping platform without bedding. A typical cell measured only 7 square meters (75 square feet), or a little less than two king-size beds. Back to: Introduction
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