in detail
Since 1987, the exhibition "Topography of Terror: Gestapo, SS and Reich Security Main Office" has existed on the "Prinz Albert terrain" in the center of Berlin. The history of this site is documented in a temporary exhibition hall.
As of 1933 central headquarters of the Secret State Police at are located at Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse 8. It included a Gestapo „house prison“ where as many as 15,000 political opponents of the regime were imprisoned. The Hotel Prinz Albrecht located next door served as of 1934 as the seat of the Reichsführung-SS. In 1939 these authorities and offices are combined with the Reich criminal police into a new organization called the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). Thus it was here – in direct proximity to the central government offices of the German Reich - that the real government offices of the “SS State” were concentrated. With this consolidation, the main functions of the SS state were concentrated very close to the central government agencies of the German Reich.
The bureaucratic apparatus, made up of thousands of employees, was a central element in the Nationalist Socialist terror system which was deeply entrenched in the daily life of National Socialism.
Within the Gestapo headquarters, an in-house prison was also constructed in which primarily resistance fighters, whose interrogation was of particular interest to Nazi officials, were detained for questioning.
In the final years of the war, the buildings were badly damaged by bombs and nearby fighting but they were not beyond repair. Nonetheless, they were torn down between 1949 and 1956. After their removal and the division of the city, the area was ignored.
Its rediscovery began in the late seventies. Individuals, persecuted groups, and "citizens" action groups drew attention to the "Gestapo terrain" and demanded a memorial for the victims of National Socialism.
In conjunction with the 750th anniversary celebration of Berlin, the area was secured and opened to the public with a documentation exhibit and information panels presenting historical information. The physical evidence of the torn down buildings, cellars, and foundation remains were exposed and became part of the documentation. Public opinion and the vast numbers of visitors determined that the documentation exhibit, which had been housed in a temporary hall, become a permanent exhibition.
In 1992 the Senate resolved to create a central exhibition, documentation and encounter center on these grounds and to establish a foundation supported by the federal government and given responsibility for the historical grounds. The architectural competition was won in 1993 by the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. But by July 1999 only the foundation and three staircase towers of his design had been constructed. In 2004 the federal government and state government agreed to end the Zumthor project. In April 2005 a new architectural competition was conducted.
The open-air exhibition has up to 350,000 visitors each year. Tours are offered to groups. The Topography Foundation has created a number of changing exhibitions, some of which have been shown at different sites as travelling exhibitions (in English, Russian and Italian, too). The Memorial Museums Department coordinates the network of national and international memorial work on Nazi victims and organizes seminars, study tours and conferences. In 2006 the “Documentation Center for Nazi/Forced Labor in Berlin / Schöneweide“ will be integrated into the foundation.
1933-1945
The headquarters of the most important surveillance and persecution apparatus of the National Socialist regime - the SS, Gestapo and Reich Security Main Office - are located on the "Prinz Albrecht terrain"
After 1945
The grounds are leveled and used commercially.
1987
"Topography of Terror" is opened to the public with a documentation exhibit and information panels explaining the site; foundation remains are uncovered
1992
The Senate of the state of Berlin resolves to turn the documentation exhibit into a foundation and to establish a visitors center and permanent exhibition on the grounds
1997
The provisional exhibition hall is torn down and construction of the new international documentation center begins. The exhiition "Topography of Terror" is on display as an outdoor exhibit in front of the foundation remains on Niederkirchnerstrasse.
