Leipzig Prison (, later ) was a prison in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Built together with an adjacent court building in 1906, it was used as a prison until 2003. During

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

rule, a secret part of the prison was used as the central execution site of East Germany. In 1981,

Werner Teske Werner Teske (24 April 1942 – 26 June 1981) was an East German (Captain) of the Stasi, Ministry for State Security (Stasi). Teske was a senior intelligence officer in the Stasi's economic espionage division when he was accused of plotting ...

was the final person executed here. The prison was used until 2003, the site is now used as an extension of the nearby court building, with the execution site remaining as a memorial site.

History

The prison, together with the Royal Saxonian State Court building (which now houses the ) were completed in 1906. Its main entrance was on Alfred-Kästner-Straße, which was in the middle of a residential area in the Südvorstadt neighbourhood of Leipzig. It was used as a prison until 2002.

East German execution site

From 1960, all executions in East Germany took place in the , as the prison was called in East Germany. A separate entrance (Arndtstraße 48) led to the secret execution site. A total of 64 people were executed here. At first, the execution method was a guillotine, but problems with failed executions led to the adoption of the (close-range shot into the back of the head) as the execution method from 1968. The executions were secret and hidden from both the people living nearby and from the inmates of the prison. Executed people included ordinary criminals, Nazi war criminals and former

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

officials. They were given falsified death certificates, cremated and interred anonymously at Leipzig Südfriedhof cemetery. The last person executed here was

, who was shot on 26 June 1981. Between 1960 and 1976, 19 Nazi war criminals were executed at Leipzig Prison. Since 2008, a memorial plaque (commissioned by the Leipzig city council and designed by Gerd Nawroth) at the Arndstraße entrance commemorates the execution site. The site can be visited only twice per year: during

Long Night of Museums The Long Night of Museums (), or the Night of Museums, and, since 2005, the European Night of Museums, is a cultural festival, cultural event in which museums and cultural institutions remain open late into the night to introduce themselves to ...

and during

Tag des offenen Denkmals The Tag des offenen Denkmals (Day of Open Monuments) is an annual event all over Germany. The day of action has been coordinated by the Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz since 1993. Historic monuments are open to the public free of charge. It takes ...

, organised by the Stasi museum association.

Redevelopment

Most of the prison was demolished in 2003. However, the historic façades and the execution site were preserved. In 2017, work was started to turn the former prison site into an extension of the nearby court building, starting with offices for public prosecutors.

People executed at Leipzig Prison

Wilhelm Schäfer – Nazi war criminal who was complicit in numerous atrocities, including the executions of hundreds of Soviet POWs in

Buchenwald concentration camp Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Nazi Germany, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (pre-1938 ...

. Executed in 1961. Horst Petri – Nazi war criminal who was complicit in mass shootings, mass deportations, and other crimes. His civilian wife, Erna Petri, also committed various atrocities. Horst was executed in 1962, while Erna received a life sentence. She was released in 1992, and died in 2000. Roland Puhr – Nazi war criminal who murdered dozens of prisoners at

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners t ...

. He was also the first commandant of the Lager Sylt camp. Executed in 1964. Horst Fischer – Nazi war criminal who murdered at least 75,000 people by participating in their selections at

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

. He was also the main camp doctor in the infirmary of the

Monowitz concentration camp Monowitz (also known as Monowitz-Buna, Buna and Auschwitz III) was a Nazi concentration camp and labor camp (''Arbeitslager'') run by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland from 1942–1945, during World War II and the Holocaust. For most of its existe ...

. Executed in 1966. Fischer was the last person to be executed by guillotine in East Germany.

Josef Blösche Josef Blösche (12 February 1912 – 29 July 1969) was a German war criminal and a member of the Nazi Party who served in the SS and SD during World War II. Blösche personally executed many Jews, participating in several massacres, and helped ...

– Nazi war criminal and

Einsatzkommando During World War II, the Nazi German ' were a sub-group of the ' (mobile killing squads) – up to 3,000 men total – usually composed of 500–1,000 functionaries of the SS and Gestapo, whose mission was to exterminate Jews, Polish intellect ...

who participated in at least 2000 murders and at least 300,000 deportations. Blösche also committed thrill-killings and rape-slayings in the

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (, officially , ; ) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the Nazi Germany, German authorities within the new General Government territory of Occupat ...

. He became infamous for his appearance in the

Warsaw Ghetto boy The Warsaw Ghetto boy is a boy photographed in 1943 during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. In the best-known photograph taken during the uprising, a boy holds his hands over his head while Josef Blösche points a submachine gun in his direction. T ...

photo. Executed in 1969. Hilmar Swinka – Spree killer who murdered three women; executed in 1970. Hans Baumgartner – Nazi war criminal and

who participated in the deportations of at least 3000 people and the shootings of nearly 6330 Jews, other civilians, and POWs, in Latvia. Baumgartner actively participated in the

Liepāja massacres The Liepāja massacres were a series of mass executions, many public or semi-public, in and near the city of Liepāja (), on the west coast of Latvia in 1941 after the German occupation of Latvia. The main perpetrators were detachments of the ' ...

. Executed in 1971.

Erwin Hagedorn Hans Erwin Hagedorn (30 January 1952 – 15 September 1972) was an East German serial killer who murdered three young boys between 1969 and 1971. Murders On 31 May 1969, Hagedorn killed two nine-year-old boys, Henry Specht and Mario Louis, in ...

– Serial killer who murdered three young boys; executed in 1972. Hagedorn was the last ordinary criminal executed in East Germany. Paul Hermann Feustel – Nazi war criminal who had 42 Czech civilians executed and 2460 sent to concentration camps after

Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( , ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a German high-ranking SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He held the rank of SS-. Many historians regard Heydrich ...

was fatally wounded during an assassination attempt. Executed in 1973. Albert Hugo Schuster – Nazi war criminal who murdered at least 400 civilians in

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

; executed in 1973.

– The last man executed in East Germany; executed on political charges in 1981.

References

Sources