Special Camp No. 3

East Germany, the GDR, was the most spied upon population in history, far surpassing former Nazi Germany and even that of its patron state, the Soviet Union. The task of spying on its own population fell to the Ministry of State Security, more commonly known as the Stasi. In Berlin, the Stasi ran Hohenschönhausen prison, which was the headquarters of the Stasi's network of 17 secret prisons. The secret prisons were not marked on any maps and every effort was made to keep the prisoners from knowing where they were or where they had been if released. These secret prisons were used for political detainees. Common criminals were housed in regular prisons.

Today I toured Hohenschönhausen, which is now a memorial.

The "U-Boat" was an underground set of cells built by the Soviets
later to be abandoned by the East Germans

The Stasi used unmarked, civilian work trucks with multiple cells in the back to collect prisoners. They would start out in the morning snatching political detainees off the street as they would normally make their way to work.

A prisoner collection truck parked in the sally port
of Hohenschönhausen prison.

The Stasi built a more modern prison above the Soviet prison, which housed many more political prisoners. The prison was carefully constructed to keep prisoners from having contact with each other.

Hallway of the modern prison.
Note the floor covering.

Cell door of a Stasi prison cell.

Inside view of a Stasi prison cell.

Prisoner isolation was so entrenched, that the prison had a series of small exercise yards outside for letting a prisoner get fresh air only one at a time.

More information on Hohenschönhausen can be found here.