Leipzig Prison

The prison, together with the Royal Saxonian State Court building (which now houses the ) were completed in 1906. Its main entrance was on Alfred-Kästner-Straße, which was in the middle of a residential area in the Südvorstadt neighbourhood of Leipzig. It was used as a prison until 2002. The executions were secret and hidden from both the people living nearby and from the inmates of the prison. Executed people included ordinary criminals, Nazi war criminals and former Stasi officials. They were given falsified death certificates, cremated and interred anonymously at Leipzig Südfriedhof cemetery. The last person executed here was Werner Teske, who was shot on 26 June 1981. Since 2008, a memorial plaque (commissioned by the Leipzig city council and designed by Gerd Nawroth) at the Arndstraße entrance commemorates the execution site. The site can be visited only twice per year: during Long Night of Museums and during Tag des offenen Denkmals, organised by the Stasi museum association. == Redevelopment ==

Most of the prison was demolished in 2003. However, the historic façades and the execution site were preserved. In 2017, work was started to turn the former prison site into an extension of the nearby court building, starting with offices for public prosecutors. == People executed at Leipzig Prison ==

Wilhelm Schäfer – Nazi war criminal who was complicit in numerous atrocities, including the executions of hundreds of Soviet POWs in Buchenwald concentration camp. Executed in 1961. Horst Petri – Nazi war criminal who was complicit in mass shootings, mass deportations, and other crimes. His civilian wife, Erna Petri, also committed various atrocities. Horst was executed in 1962, while Erna received a life sentence. She was released in 1992, and died in 2000. Roland Puhr – Nazi war criminal who murdered dozens of prisoners at Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He was also the first commandant of the Lager Sylt camp. Executed in 1964. Horst Fischer – Nazi war criminal who murdered at least 75,000 people by participating in their selections at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was also the main camp doctor in the infirmary of the Monowitz concentration camp. Executed in 1966. Fischer was the last person to be executed by guillotine in East Germany. Josef Blösche – Nazi war criminal and Einsatzkommando who participated in at least 2000 murders and at least 300,000 deportations. Blösche also committed thrill-killings and rape-slayings in the Warsaw Ghetto. He became infamous for his appearance in the Warsaw Ghetto boy photo. Executed in 1969. Hilmar Swinka – Spree killer who murdered three women; executed in 1970. Hans Baumgartner – Nazi war criminal and Einsatzkommando who participated in the deportations of at least 3000 people and the shootings of nearly 6330 Jews, other civilians, and POWs, in Latvia. Baumgartner actively participated in the Liepāja massacres. Executed in 1971. Erwin Hagedorn – Serial killer who murdered three young boys; executed in 1972. Hagedorn was the last ordinary criminal executed in East Germany. Paul Hermann Feustel – Nazi war criminal who had 42 Czech civilians executed and 2460 sent to concentration camps after Reinhard Heydrich was fatally wounded during an assassination attempt. Executed in 1973. Albert Hugo Schuster – Nazi war criminal who murdered at least 400 civilians in Belarus and Poland; executed in 1973. Werner Teske – The last man executed in East Germany; executed on political charges in 1981. == See also ==