in detail
Just seven years after the Prussian penal educational improvement facility opened, the first prison-ers convicted of political crimes were sent here. Since the late 19th century the prison was referred to as “Red Ox.” An average of 350 prisoners were in solitary confinement and forced to work in large manufacturing halls under sworn silence and strict surveillance.
After the National Socialists seized power in Germany, the prison facility was first used as a prison for justice authorities, but it also took in protective custody prisoners of the political police (Ge-stapo). By the end of 1935 protective custody prisoners were transferred to the Saxony and Thurin-gia prisons .At the same time the prison building was filled with men who were forced to work in the wood processing industry, stamp cutter, printer and book binding workshops.
After the prison hospital was converted into an execution site, the executions began in November 1942 by guillotine. By early 1944 death sentences were carried out through hanging. A total of 549 people from 15 different European countries died through execution. Most of the convicted prison-ers were transferred by the Reich war court to Halle. A large number came from the division courts of the reserve army of the Wehrmacht.
On April 11, 1945, six days before the city was occupied by the American troops, the justice authority evacuated over 400 prisoners. More than half did not survive the transport.
From July 1945 until mid 1950, the entire building complex served the Soviet NKVD security service as a prisoner and internment site. Soviet military tribunals (SMT) convicted many thou-sands of people of both real and supposed crimes during the Nazi dictatorship. But those who op-posed the measures of the occupying power and the policies of the KPD/SED were also sentenced.
By October 1950, the GDR Ministry for State Security used almost the entire facility. A few prison areas and a court building were still available to the SMT until 1955. By 1952, the MfS used the lower part of the prison as a detention prison. The upper sections served as a prison of the GDR Ministry of Interior. From 1955 to 1989 an estimated 6,000 detention prisoners were here. In De-cember 1989, members of the citizens protest movement attained the release of the final political prisoners of the “Red Ox.” Three months later, in March 1990, the MfS cleared out the facility.
On February 15, 1996 the penitentiary opened as a memorial. On February 15, 2006, the memorial will re-open after being completely renovated and redesigned with a permanent exhibition. The memorial offers a wide span of educational opportunities for schools, army units and other educa-tional institutions. Lectures, tours and seminars address the injustice and human rights violations in th “Red Ox” during the different dictatorships.
838-1842
The Prussian penal educational improvement facility is built in front of the city of Halle to hold approx. 350 inmates (solitary confinement system)
May 1842
The first inmates are committed
Spring 1849
The first people to be committed for political reasons arrive
1933-45
Prison and protective custody camp for National Socialist justice and police authorities. The prison facilities are enlarged to contain 600 inmates. In 1935 prisoners are exchanged, the building is used as a prison for the upper district court of Naumburg.
1936-45
A workshop building is built and the prison is extended to hold 790 inmates. Prisoners come from all over Germany and (as of 1939) from at least 17 European countries. There is proof of the imprisonment of 1200 inmates.
1942-45
The hospital building is used as an execution site for the Wehrmacht military court (Reich war court), the People
