2 Political department

Along the path leading from the Visitors’ Center to the Jourhaus, eight angle irons mark the onetime position of a historical building: the elongated structure where the offices of the political department of the Secret State Police (Gestapo) were located.

The traumatic registration procedure for the newly arrived prisoners usually began in the rooms of this building. The political department recorded personal information, took police photographs, compiled prisoner files, and assigned numbers to the prisoners. For every prisoner they registered the date of admission, transfer to another camp, release, or death. The political department also interrogated prisoners, often using torture.