Waldheim Prison is a -year-old federal prison in

Waldheim, Saxony Waldheim () is a town in Mittelsachsen district, in Saxony, Germany. Geography It is situated in the valley of the river Zschopau (river), Zschopau, southwest of Döbeln, and north of Chemnitz. The municipal area comprises Waldheim proper, th ...

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 ...

Use

, the Waldheim penal institution held 373 men (aged 21–80) out of a capacity of almost 400. The Saxon Minister of Justice, Sebastian Gemkow, described the focus as "humane enforcement".

History

Originally an old castle, the penitentiary in

opened on 3 April 1716. Founded by

Augustus II the Strong Augustus II the Strong (12 May 1670 – 1 February 1733), was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1697 to 1706 and from 1709 until his death in 1733. He belonged to the Albertine branch of the H ...

elector of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a ...

, the prison was initially focused on welfare and rehabilitation and housed beggars,

highwaymen A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to foo ...

, and criminals (with the latter only accounting for 20% of inmates). A model for other such institutions, by the turn of the 19th century, envoys traveled from other European states to see the prison. After being stripped of its welfare roles in 1830, the prison became notorious for the atrocious treatment of inmates. In 1870, Waldheim was the first prison to install a

mental ward A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe mental disorders. These institutions cater to patients with c ...

. Waldheim was used to hold

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...

s: before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, for the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

, and the East German state. Some famous prisoners included

Karl May Karl Friedrich May ( , ; 25 February 1842 – 30 March 1912) was a German author. He is best known for his novels of travels and adventures, set in the American Old West, the Orient, the Middle East, Latin America, China and Germany. He als ...

, August Röckel, and Horst Sindermann. The 1950 Waldheim Trials imprisoned thousands of Nazi suspects and executed 24. In April 2016, a ceremony was held to celebrate the building's 300th anniversary, the oldest German prison still in use.

References

External links

* {{authority control 1716 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire castles in Saxony execution sites in Germany prisons in Germany