Eyewitness Office

Recording and preserving the memories of the former inmates is a key part in present and future research work on the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen remand prison. This task is carried out by the Eyewitness Office, which maintains contact with the ex-inmates and documents the history of their imprisonment. The Eyewitness Office also collects prison records and conducts interviews with former prisoners about their experience here. Questionnaires are used to collect data on the prison and are eventually transferred to a data base.

Contact usually begins with an introductory discussion and asking the eyewitness to fill in the questionnaire. This process is then carried on, when possible, with a structured interview, which is then transcribed and archived. More than 700 eyewitnesses have taken part in this process so far. The Eyewitness Archive has 415 transcribed interviews, providing an important source for historical research.


Contact

Dr. Stefan Donth
Tel.: 030 / 98 60 82-454
Fax: 030 / 98 60 82-464
s.donth [at] stiftung-hsh.de

Julia Baumann
Tel.: 030 / 98 60 82-33
Fax: 030 / 98 60 82-464
j.baumann [at] stiftung-hsh.d