Old City Penitentiary ("Criminal Penitentiary") Düsseldorf, Schulstraße 2a
The approximately 3.2 hectare [2] large area was still outside of a dense population settlement at the end of the 19th century. The prison was built on a hill from 1889 and opened in 1893. It replaced the old city prison built around 1780 in Schulstraße 2a. Whether the hill is a former execution place is not occupied. The Zuchthaus was then built as a Prussian cell prison in the Kreuzbau. The Prussian construction boom of prisons had begun with the institutions of Cologne-Klingelpuetz (1834), Berlin-Moabit (1842) and Münster (1853) as early as the middle of the nineteenth century. In today's North Rhine-Westphalia belong the prisons Herford (1882), Siegburg (1893), Willich-Anrath (1900), Remscheid-Lüttringhausen (1902) and Werl (1905).
Between 1892 and 1934, eight executions were carried out for murder. A series of historical legal cases and many events in the history of the city of Düsseldorf are linked to the "Ulmer Höh", such as the separatist uprisings of 1919 and 1923 , the beating attack, the murder of Peter Kürten , the Majdanek trials or the RAF - Processes of the 1970s.
Since 1933, Ulmer Höh 'belonged to the Düsseldorf Penitentiary. During the entire period of National Socialism , the state prison was a place of political imprisonment, arbitrariness and ill-treatment. After the Reichstagsbrand of February 27, 1933, more than 300 "suspected" Duesseldorfers were arrested and imprisoned. Most of them were political opponents , such as Social Democrats, trade unionists and communists. Several Jewish citizens, to whom Ulmer Höh 'abducted, came to life under unexplained or apparently veiled circumstances. In the last years of the Second World War foreigners or forced laborers were also increasingly arrested. On April 28, 1944, an allied air strike hit the detention center. The prisoners were at the time housed in the air-raid shelter of the district hospital in the area. But this too was taken. The attack claimed 36 deaths. On 2 November 1944, 12 prisoners died in the bomb blast. At the beginning of 1945 the still living prisoners were evacuated to Wuppertal, Lüttringhausen and other detention centers. For political prisoners, the end of the war on 8 May 1945 is liberation.With a 1970 reform, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia was divided into two central authorities, one in the Rhineland, based in Cologne, and the other in Westphalia-Lippe, based in Hamm. The Ulmer Höh 'belonged to the correctional authority of Rhineland until their dissolution.
Men's House
In the men's house , the largest and oldest building , the majority of the prison sentences were between at least three and a maximum of 48 months as well as investigations. It could accommodate up to 529 prisoners. Prisoners and prisoners of conscience sat in separate sections. Already convicted persons should be prepared during their imprisonment for a punctilious life. Other departments were the reception department , which all the prisoners investigated, and the abstinence-oriented department , where detainees were prepared for a drug treatment outside the prison.
The history of this place was hard to find so the above has been copied from wiki.
A trip to this place was a lucky find on a recent trip to dusseldorf, Germany. After a long trip in the pouring rain and being led by google maps to the new and functioning prison we finally made it. Based on a busy main street it was disappointing to see that the adult section of the prison was already awash with workmen. All was not lost and down a an alley way past two intrigued drunks we were in through a hole in the fence to the juvenile section. Run down and walls covered in graffiti there was an eerie feel to the place. The watch towers still in tact and a feeling of being watched it was time to get in.
A sense of how old this building is hits you as soon as you get in. 3 floors can be seen through the old metal floors, the watch station was smashed and glass and rubbish lined the floors. There was cupid angel with no head hanging from the top and it was clear to see that this was now used as shelter and for a canvas for graffiti artists. Some of the old wooden doors to the single cells had prisoners names on them, and one was seen to have been a padded cell. There were halls at the end- the wooden detail and light through the windows made you feel like you were in a church hall instead of a prison.
Leading out the back door you were led into the prison yard- a place that was once used for the youths to play basketball. Sitting out there was a creepy santa- a little out of place but anything can be found in these places. Walking round the prison yard it was clear to see how closed in one would feel. Metal bars on the windows and high walls surrounding the building with no where to go. This then led on to what would most have probably been the building used to teach skills and for classes to be taught- a lot more modern than the cells.
This was definitely a lucky find in a city that we knew nothing about. It’s a shame that this is another building steeped in history that is getting ready to be knocked down.
The approximately 3.2 hectare [2] large area was still outside of a dense population settlement at the end of the 19th century. The prison was built on a hill from 1889 and opened in 1893. It replaced the old city prison built around 1780 in Schulstraße 2a. Whether the hill is a former execution place is not occupied. The Zuchthaus was then built as a Prussian cell prison in the Kreuzbau. The Prussian construction boom of prisons had begun with the institutions of Cologne-Klingelpuetz (1834), Berlin-Moabit (1842) and Münster (1853) as early as the middle of the nineteenth century. In today's North Rhine-Westphalia belong the prisons Herford (1882), Siegburg (1893), Willich-Anrath (1900), Remscheid-Lüttringhausen (1902) and Werl (1905).
Between 1892 and 1934, eight executions were carried out for murder. A series of historical legal cases and many events in the history of the city of Düsseldorf are linked to the "Ulmer Höh", such as the separatist uprisings of 1919 and 1923 , the beating attack, the murder of Peter Kürten , the Majdanek trials or the RAF - Processes of the 1970s.
Since 1933, Ulmer Höh 'belonged to the Düsseldorf Penitentiary. During the entire period of National Socialism , the state prison was a place of political imprisonment, arbitrariness and ill-treatment. After the Reichstagsbrand of February 27, 1933, more than 300 "suspected" Duesseldorfers were arrested and imprisoned. Most of them were political opponents , such as Social Democrats, trade unionists and communists. Several Jewish citizens, to whom Ulmer Höh 'abducted, came to life under unexplained or apparently veiled circumstances. In the last years of the Second World War foreigners or forced laborers were also increasingly arrested. On April 28, 1944, an allied air strike hit the detention center. The prisoners were at the time housed in the air-raid shelter of the district hospital in the area. But this too was taken. The attack claimed 36 deaths. On 2 November 1944, 12 prisoners died in the bomb blast. At the beginning of 1945 the still living prisoners were evacuated to Wuppertal, Lüttringhausen and other detention centers. For political prisoners, the end of the war on 8 May 1945 is liberation.With a 1970 reform, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia was divided into two central authorities, one in the Rhineland, based in Cologne, and the other in Westphalia-Lippe, based in Hamm. The Ulmer Höh 'belonged to the correctional authority of Rhineland until their dissolution.
Men's House
In the men's house , the largest and oldest building , the majority of the prison sentences were between at least three and a maximum of 48 months as well as investigations. It could accommodate up to 529 prisoners. Prisoners and prisoners of conscience sat in separate sections. Already convicted persons should be prepared during their imprisonment for a punctilious life. Other departments were the reception department , which all the prisoners investigated, and the abstinence-oriented department , where detainees were prepared for a drug treatment outside the prison.
The history of this place was hard to find so the above has been copied from wiki.
A trip to this place was a lucky find on a recent trip to dusseldorf, Germany. After a long trip in the pouring rain and being led by google maps to the new and functioning prison we finally made it. Based on a busy main street it was disappointing to see that the adult section of the prison was already awash with workmen. All was not lost and down a an alley way past two intrigued drunks we were in through a hole in the fence to the juvenile section. Run down and walls covered in graffiti there was an eerie feel to the place. The watch towers still in tact and a feeling of being watched it was time to get in.
A sense of how old this building is hits you as soon as you get in. 3 floors can be seen through the old metal floors, the watch station was smashed and glass and rubbish lined the floors. There was cupid angel with no head hanging from the top and it was clear to see that this was now used as shelter and for a canvas for graffiti artists. Some of the old wooden doors to the single cells had prisoners names on them, and one was seen to have been a padded cell. There were halls at the end- the wooden detail and light through the windows made you feel like you were in a church hall instead of a prison.
Leading out the back door you were led into the prison yard- a place that was once used for the youths to play basketball. Sitting out there was a creepy santa- a little out of place but anything can be found in these places. Walking round the prison yard it was clear to see how closed in one would feel. Metal bars on the windows and high walls surrounding the building with no where to go. This then led on to what would most have probably been the building used to teach skills and for classes to be taught- a lot more modern than the cells.
This was definitely a lucky find in a city that we knew nothing about. It’s a shame that this is another building steeped in history that is getting ready to be knocked down.
