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View onto "Stasi Headquarters. Campus for Democracy"

Stasi Headquarters. Campus for Democracy

What began as a place of repression is now a campus for democracy: The former headquarters of the Ministry for State Security once housed thousands of employees of the secret police tasked with helping to secure the power of the SED-dictatorship. Today it is a place where these injustices of the past are addressed and connected to discussions about contemporary conflicts and values of society.

The headquarters of the Ministry for State Security (MfS) in Berlin-Lichtenberg was a huge complex with almost 50 buildings and thousands of offices. This is where, for almost four decades, as many as 7.000 official employees organized the surveillance and persecution of the population of the German Democratic Republic.

In January 1990, demonstrators forced their way onto the sealed-off grounds and helped to end the activities of the Stasi. Today this former bastion of SED (East German Communist Party) rule is an educational site about dictatorship and resistance and a learning centre for democracy.

As a place of reflection on the East German dictatorship, the Campus for Democracy is home to the Robert Havemann Society with its archive of the GDR opposition movement and the ASTAK Association running the Stasimuseum. The Stasi Records Archive has its central archive location here. Individual and group visitors can tour the grounds, the archives and the exhibitions as well as attend events.

Things to see

Site plan for the "Stasi headquarters. Campus for Democracy".
Walk-in files, interactive media stations and original objects provide insight into the archive of the GDR secret police

Exhibition "Access to Secrecy"

How did the Stasi store, analyse and use the information it gathered about individuals? "Access to Secrecy" is the first exhibition to present the foundations and content of the GDR secret police archive. Using “walk-in” files, interactive media stations and original objects, it makes it possible to experience the Stasi Records Archive at the historic site. Tours of the exhibition, including a glimpse into the archive, and special project days for school groups are offered regularly.

Read more about the exhibition on www.access-to-secrecy.com

Exhibition "State Security in the SED Dictatorship"

The exhibition “State Security in the SED Dictatorship” is located in “House 1” – with the former offices of the Minister for State Security a central site of the apparatus of repression. It explains the structure, development and work methods of the Stasi. Who were the perpetrators? What was their mission? And how did they go about monitoring and persecuting the GDR population? In addition to the offices of Stasi Minister Erich Mielke, which are preserved in their original form, there are many different objects on display, including special cameras, wiretaps, forced entry tools and equipment used to secretly open letters.

Visitors to the Stasi Museum can explore the former offices of Stasi Minister Erich Mielke, preserved in their original form.
“Revolution and the Fall of the Wall”: The revolution for freedom in the GDR is documented by more than 650 photographs and many historical documents and film recordings

Open-Air-Exhibition "Revolution and the Fall of the Wall"

The permanent exhibition in the inner courtyard of the Stasi headquarters, one of the historic sites of the Peaceful Revolution, documents the most important stages in this event – from the initial protests to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany. The presentation focuses on the people behind the revolution who brought down the communist dictatorship. An audio guide is available at the visitors centre to accompany visitors through the exhibition.