Memorial Bautzner Street Dresden — Attraction in Dresden

The Memorial at Bautzner Street, a former Stasi prison, is an unsettling yet significant site that encapsulates a dark chapter in Germany's history. This place is a solemn testament to the past, telling a story of surveillance, persecution, and resilience during the Cold War era.

Entering the prison, one is instantly transported back in time. Stark surroundings, stark in their simplicity, echo with the stories of those who once called this place an unwilling home. DDR-style devices, reminders of a surveillance culture, are strewn about, evoking a sense of cold, bureaucratic indifference.

The prison offers an audio tour, an immersive experience that's only available in German. However, this isn't your usual guided tour. It's a chilling play that thrusts you, the listener, into the shoes of a prisoner during the Cold War. There is a catch: you are your modern-day self. Try and convince the guard that the wall fell all you want. "That will never happen!", he says mockingly. The narrative is profoundly graphic, designed to make the visitor not just a spectator, but a participant in a historical enactment of oppression.

Beneath the already grim environment lies an even grimmer sight – the Soviet prison at the basement level. This is a harsher place, if that can be believed, where conditions were near inhumane. The contrast between the two levels of the prison serves to underline the harsh realities faced by those imprisoned here.

The entry fee to this stark reminder of a bygone era is €8. It's recommended to ask for English tour directions at the counter, particularly if your grasp of the German language isn't strong.

The Memorial at Bautzner Street isn't a place for light-hearted tourism. It's a place of reflection, of understanding, and of acknowledging the dark side of human history. It stands as a stark reminder of the atrocities that were committed in the name of ideologies and power.

While it might not provide an uplifting visit, it offers an essential one. The memorial is an opportunity to learn, to remember, and to honour the memory of those who suffered. Visiting this site is to bear witness to history, to ensure that the stories of those who lived, suffered and, in some cases, died here, are not forgotten.

The Memorial Bautzner Street Dresden isn't for the faint of heart. But for those who believe in understanding all facets of history—the good, the bad, and the unthinkable—it's an indelibly haunting and...

For context, my friends and I speak English, but not German, as we were tourists visiting Dresden for the day. We are students, so when we saw the relatively cheap tickets, we thought why not? We read up a bit on it prior to visiting it, but it was mostly a spontaneous trip. But oh boy was it an experience! There were very minimal english descriptions (we got a paper with all the main points), but audio guides were also not available. Moreover the signs that were posted were only posted in German, thus for a tourist it might be strenuous translating required. The prison was VERY well preserved, which was amazing, but also surreal in a way! What really got me, though, was the bunker. Cold, isolated, dirty, with no English signs, I must admit it was definitely fear evoking (maybe that’s what the museum was going for?). I would rate my experience much higher, had there been more postage in English, as I feel it was really confusing. I would NOT recommend to children or people with little knowledge of...

I visited the prison in July 2017 on a day trip to Dresden to learn about the history of the GDR and the Stasi. I received an informative welcome at the entry desk and paid only 2€ for student entry fee. You are able to explore the various buildings alone, but I joined a guided tour which was led by ex-inmate Herr. Gottschalk who was imprisoned here in the 1980s under the East German regime. Hearing the history and stories behind the building from his own experiences was incredibly interesting and we received detailed answers to all our questions. I visited the two prison blocks and the perfectly-preserved offices of the ex-Stasi headquarters in Dresden.

The prison is just down the road (tram takes you direct) from The World of the GDR museum, which i also visited, which offers another experience of East Germany. They offer a combi-ticket at a reduced price to visit both the museum and the prison and...