Former KGB prison to become a memorial 05/04/2007 00:00

6 April 2007

Potsdam, Germany (dpa) - A former prison operated in East Germany by the Soviet KGB intelligence service is to be restored as a memorial, the church which owns the building said Wednesday.

Soviet agents tortured both German and Russian captives in the basement of the building, set in parkland at Potsdam, south-west of Berlin, and banished many to Siberian gulags. The site will commemorate their ordeal.

An exhibition at the shabby building in 2000 detailed its history. It is believed to be the only KGB prison in central and eastern Europe still in its original state.

The original owner, the Berlin-Brandenburg Lutheran Church, which recovered the site from the Russians in 1994, said a foundation stone for the memorial would be laid July 3.

The 90-year-old building, which is already signposted for tourists, will be opened to visitors and an education annexe will be built during the 2.2-million-euro (2.9-million-dollar) restoration.

The building is near the Potsdam mansion where Allied leaders met in 1945 to settle the post-war division of Europe. The whole area became a fenced-off Soviet military headquarters until the end of communism.

DPA

Subject: German news