Gedenkstätte Bautzner Straße

The instal­la­tion in the foy­er of the memo­r­i­al resem­bles a for­est of columns, on whose pil­lars words such as ​“Free­dom?”, ​“Vote?”, ​“Have a say?” sym­bol­ize the fun­da­men­tal prin­ci­ples of democ­ra­cy, and quo­ta­tions from con­tem­po­rary wit­ness­es encour­age self-examination.

The hall has been large­ly pre­served in the con­di­tion in which it was vacat­ed by the State Secu­ri­ty in 1989. A new mul­ti­me­dia pre­sen­ta­tion, using orig­i­nal audio and video record­ings, pro­vides an authen­tic impres­sion of how the room was used by employ­ees of the Stasi dis­trict admin­is­tra­tion. Excerpts from speech­es giv­en here, as well as films that were used for train­ing pur­pos­es, pro­vide insights into the dai­ly work of the Dres­den dis­trict administration.

The Sovi­et deten­tion cel­lar and the orig­i­nal cell­block form the cen­tral fea­tures of the memo­r­i­al. The first guid­ed tours took place here in 1994. Today, these sites are part of a tour, marked by red-framed infor­ma­tion pan­els. The new tour also opens up addi­tion­al rooms in the build­ing and offers new per­spec­tives on history.

The Exhi­bi­tion Floor

Orig­i­nal audio and film record­ings, as well as new­ly con­duct­ed inter­views with con­tem­po­rary wit­ness­es, are incor­po­rat­ed into the exhi­bi­tion floor. There, the per­se­cu­tion of the peo­ple is doc­u­ment­ed using doc­u­ments that trace their lives. The con­cept aims to con­trast the peo­ple’s life sto­ries with the repres­sive mech­a­nisms of the State Secu­ri­ty Service.

Numer­ous mul­ti­me­dia ele­ments con­vey the his­to­ry of the Dres­den Stasi dis­trict admin­is­tra­tion and the oppo­si­tion in the GDR. Audio record­ings of tele­phone calls from the for­mer Stasi head pro­vide insights into the State Secu­ri­ty Ser­vice’s self-image. Eye­wit­ness accounts, audio record­ings, and per­son­al objects show how sur­veil­lance was per­ceived and what effects it had. The forms of oppo­si­tion­al voic­es are illus­trat­ed through mul­ti­me­dia pre­sen­ta­tions – from slo­gans to crit­i­cal bal­lot papers. One focus is on the Peace­ful Rev­o­lu­tion, which uses inter­ac­tive media to bring the protests and demon­stra­tions in Dres­den to life.

The tour of the per­ma­nent exhi­bi­tion con­cludes with the peace­ful occu­pa­tion of the Stasi dis­trict admin­is­tra­tion by cit­i­zens of Dres­den. A new­ly installed inte­ri­or stair­case leads vis­i­tors to the cin­e­ma screen­ing room, which is now acces­si­ble for the first time and offers a fresh per­spec­tive on the ball­room. From there, the path leads back to the foyer.