German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is expected to inaugurate a new memorial on Thursday in honor of people incarcerated in the notorious Hoheneck women’s prison in the former communist East Germany.
Many of the inmates at the former Stollberg women’s prison, about 80 kilometers southwest of Dresden, were political prisoners.
Accompanied by eyewitnesses from that time, Steinmeier will visit the historic cell block and a newly created permanent exhibition. He is scheduled to give a speech later.
The former castle grounds had been used as a prison since 1864. In 1950, the facility was transformed into the largest women’s prison in East Germany.
Around 24,000 women, including 8,000 political prisoners, were held in prison until 1989, when the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the end of the communist regime.
According to the memorial’s website, daily life in the prison was characterized by hatred among inmates and severe punishments by guards.
Prisoners were forced to mass-produce pantyhose and bedding sold in department stores in West Germany — to the point of exhaustion, according to the website.
Sometimes men were also arrested in Hoheneck.
After German reunification in 1990, the facility continued to be used as a prison until 2001.
Efforts have been underway since 2019 to transform the land into a memorial and mount a permanent exhibition.
