Steinwache, Memorial museum near Dortmund Central Station, Germany.
Steinwache is a former police headquarters near the central station that now functions as a memorial. The building displays original cells, interrogation rooms, and exhibition spaces documenting the repression of that era.
When the regime came to power in 1933, the police headquarters was converted into a detention and interrogation center. Over the following years, enormous numbers passed through before the site was liberated in 1945.
Inside, visitors encounter personal accounts written by those who were imprisoned, sharing their experiences in vivid detail. These testimonies reveal how people maintained their dignity under extreme suffering.
The site is open on most days of the week and can be visited individually or with organized groups. It helps to allow enough time to explore the rooms thoroughly and read through the exhibition materials.
After the war, the building was first used as residential space before later becoming a museum. This reuse reveals how the site transformed in the years following liberation.
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