Berlin Trip : Topography of Terror Museum (Former Basement of the School of Industrial Arts and Crafts)

The Topography of Terror Museum is built on the site of what was the heart of Nazi power in Germany, the former HQ of the Gestapo and the SS. The buildings were badly damaged as Berlin fell, with the new East German Government demolishing just about everything that was left (or at surface level anyway). There were excavations in the 1980s of the buildings and the foundations and cellars of numerous buildings were rediscovered.

There is plenty left of these cellars which were constructed as the basement of the School of Industrial Arts and Crafts which was constructed between 1901 and 1905.

These were light shafts with the white glazed slotted bricks designed to improve the amount of light in the basement. They’re in such good condition that it felt almost possible to imagine them being constructed in a building that was being designed to promote art and culture before it fell into the hands of those who wanted rather more nefarious activities to take place.

The building was taken over by the Secret State Police Office, also known as the Gestapo, in May 1933. It’s not quite clear exactly how these rooms would have been used by the Gestapo, but it’s known that political prisoners were tortured and murdered in this building and that could well have included these cellars. The art school for who the building was constructed survived and is now part of the Berlin University of the Arts.