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The Gryphon School GCSE HISTORY UNIT 3: HISTORY AROUND US The Prohibited District: Berlin Hohenschonhausen REVISION GUIDE 1 The exam: You will take one exam of one hour for this unit. You will be required to answer TWO questions out of a choice of three. Note: Each school has chosen a different site to study, so questions will always refer to “your site” rather than Hohenschonhausen. SPECIMEN PAPER: As part of your GCSE (9–1) History B (Schools History Project) course you have studied a historical site and what remains of it today. Refer to features from the site as well as other sources you have studied and your own knowledge of the past to help you with the questions below. You may find it helpful to draw a simple sketch of the site you have studied before you start. This may remind you of its main features. You are advised to spend no more than three minutes doing this. In your answers, you may include simple sketches of features that can be seen at your site if you think this will help you to explain your ideas. Answer any two questions 1. Did your site change dramatically over its history? Use physical features of the site and other sources as well as your knowledge to support your answer. [20] Spelling, punctuation and grammar [5] 2. Explain how we can know that your site was important to people at a particular time in its history. Use physical features of the site and other sources as well as your knowledge to support your answer. [20] Spelling, punctuation and grammar [5] 3. Imagine that an artist has been hired to do a painting of life at your site, or part of your site, at a particular time in its past. What would you tell the artist to help make the painting historically accurate? Use physical features of the site and other sources as well as your knowledge to support your answer. [20] Spelling, punctuation and grammar [5] Tips: Make sure you look at the focus of the question. Use details from your site to address the focus of the question. Long answers are expected, so plan your answer. Think of at least three key points you can develop with a paragraph on each. 2 INTRODUCTION Historians can study at international, national and local level. This unit involves studying the History of a specific site on a local scale. This study will develop your skills at using sources of evidence to reconstruct the past to show how History can be seen around us, wherever we live. This unit focuses on the prohibited district of Hohenschonhausen in Berlin. It is a site that reflects the development of Berlin, the capital city of Germany. And lots of very important events took place here. The reasons for the location of the site within its surroundings Berlin grew into a very large city in the C19th. It was the centre of a lot of industry. The city centre was made up of rich town houses and big public buildings, but the outskirts of the city were largely industrial areas and workers’ houses. Hohenschonhausen industrial district Berlin city centre Why was Hohenschonhausen a good location for manufacturing industry, such as brick building? • Near railway lines and goods station • Near river Spree and canals NOTE: heavy goods need good transport links • Good roads link it to the city centre • Near workers • Near the city where industrial goods would be needed. So near its market. The Prison and Prohibited District By the end of the Second World War the area was destroyed by heavy bombing. When Germany was defeated in the War, Berlin, like Germany as a whole, was divided into four occupation zones. Hohenschonhausen was in the Soviet 3 (Russian) zone of East Berlin. The Soviet forces needed a prison to hold Nazi prisoners and political enemies. They chose the site at Hohenschonhausen. Why did the Soviet forces choose this site to build a prison? • The area had been destroyed during the War. • There was a lot of building debris to use in rebuilding. • It was close to the Soviet government HQ in the city. • It had good communication links but was away from the city centre. Near railway lines and goods station. How useful are maps when studying a site? Maps useful for showing location and reasons for it. Maps can be compared to see change through time. Maps of Berlin show rapid growth during C19th (time of the industrial revolution) DDR (East Germany) maps show only a blank area. This suggests secretive nature of the activities in the area. BUT Maps give no definite information about what goes on INSIDE the buildings. Does not tell us about conditions in the area eg workers lives. Photos can be used to fill out information from the maps to get a three dimensional picture. 4 When and why people first created the site The site was first used as an industrial site with factories in 1910. Reasons: See points about the advantages of its location in section 1. The site was first used as a prison in 1945. It was set up by the Soviet authorities of Communist Russia after the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945. When Germany was defeated the country was divided into four zones by the Allied powers (Britain, France the USA and the USSR). Why did the Soviet authorities need a prison in Germany in 1945? • To hold former Nazis • For suspected Nazis • March 1946 the prison was incorporated into a restricted district to detain political opponents of the Soviet occupation forces. • The Soviets also housed members of their secret police (NKVD) here. Who built the prison? The prison was built under the orders of the Red Army (the army of the Soviet Union). They used forced labour from the Asid Factory that was on the site of the restricted area. The nature of the Soviet prison Key: 1 Prison 2 unloading area A equipment store W watch commando B petrol storage S store L station halt TZ communications centre TP Watch tower It was organised so that supplies could be brought in using rail lines. The prison had its own station. A building that had been used by the Nazis as a canteen for workers was converted into a prison building. Materials were used from the old brick factory and ruined buildings to build the rest of the prison. Some buildings eg telecommunications centre, were used by the Soviet secret police. Thus, not just a prison! 5 Revision checklist: 1. Give THREE reasons why Hohenschonhausen was a good site for a factory: a) b) c) 2. Who set up a factory at this site in 1910? 3. What does the term Soviet Union mean? 4. Why did the Soviet Union have control of this part of Berlin in 1945? 5. Give THREE reasons why this was a good location for the Soviets to set up a prison in 1945 a) b) c) 6. Who physically built the Soviet prison? 7. What physical evidence still exists from the old factory? 6 The ways in which the site has changed over time: the development of the Soviet Prison Soviet prison 1945-51: use of a central block with cells. The Soviet authorities developed the old Nazi canteen building into a prison. The basement was used to detain prisoners. It was referred to by prisoners as the “U Boot” (submarine). Prisoners were held in a series of cells, some for individuals; others for groups. Some cells were used for physical torture. The prison became part of a restricted zone, off limits to members of the general public. The zone contained offices of the Soviet secret police and housed those who worked in the force. The Soviet prison can be studied using physical evidence. What are the difficulties in studying the physical appearance of the site when it was first used as a prison? Key difficulties: • Unclear what was there when first used. • Site has been added to. • Some sections have been destroyed. • Exact use of features is often unclear • Photos and records often destroyed in the War. • The site was supposed to be secret! Possible solutions: • Use of photos. These are available for the outer fence only. • Use of maps and plans. Plans were sketched by inmates. • Use of written accounts and official records. - eg. We have accounts by Berta Drews whose husband was held in the prison. - Report of the loyal mayor’s office complaining about building of the prison. What is the physical evidence for the Soviet camp? • The Soviet prison re-used some buildings, such as the Nazi canteen for workers. • It also made use of many old bricks from the brickworks. • The central block with cells in the basement. The basement is known as the “U Boot” (submarine). The evidence tell us about the way the Soviet prison worked: • Use of cells to hold prisoners • Deprived conditions (Lack of windows, lack of toilets, size of cells, wooden beds which were always too small) • Use of light deprivation( lights controlled by guards) • Use of disorientation (constant lighting) • Use of physical torture (water torture cells) The physical evidence is useful because: It shows the size of the cells and gives us a good idea of what conditions were like. BUT It does not confirm exact details of how the cells were used. Torture methods are not confirmed by the evidence. Useful to have oral accounts by prisoners and guards to confirm torture, but these tend to give very different views. 7 The development of the site under the Stasi (East German secret police) In 1951 the prison and restricted area were given over to the government of East Germany (DDR).

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