Spandau Prison

Spandau Prison was a purpose-built prison situated in the borough of Spandau in western Berlin, constructed in 1876. The prison was near, though not part of, the ancient Spandau Citadel fortress.

Life in the prison

Prison regulation

Every facet of life in the prison was strictly set out by a bloated and intricate prison regulation scheme that was designed prior to the prisoners' arrival by the Four Powers -- France, Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States. Compared to other established prison regulations at the time, Spandau's rules were quite strict. The prisoners' outgoing letters to family were at first limited to 1 page every month, talking with fellow prisoners was prohibited, newspapers were banned, diaries and memoirs were forbidden, visits with family were limited to one of 15 minutes every two months, and lights were flashed into the prisoners' cells every 15 minutes during the night as a form of suicide watch. A considerable portion of the stricter regulations were either later revised towards the more lenient, or were conveniently ignored by prison staff. The directors and guards of the Western powers (France, Britain, and the United States) repeatedly voiced opposition to many of the stricter measures, and made near constant protest of them to their superiors throughout the prison's existence, but were invariably vetoed down by the Soviet Union, which favoured a tougher approach. The Soviet Union, which pushed for execution for all men that were imprisoned in Spandau, were unwilling to compromise with the Western powers in this regard, both because of the harsher punishment that they felt was justified to be bestowed on the convicted war criminals, and as an extension of Cold War-era jockeying for power. This contrasted with Werl Prison, which housed hundreds of former officers and other lower ranking Nazi men who were under comparatively lax regulation.

Related Topics:
France - Britain - Soviet Union - United States - Memoirs - Suicide - Cold War - Werl Prison

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Daily life

Every day prisoners were ordered to rise at 06.00 hours, wash, clean their cells and the corridor together, eat breakfast, stay in the garden until lunch time at noon, weather permitting, have a post-lunch rest in their cells, then return to the garden. Supper followed at 17.00 hours and the prisoners were kept in their cells until lights out at 22.00 hours. Prisoners received a shave and a haircut, if necessary, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and did their own laundry every Monday. This routine, with the exception of the amount of time allowed in the garden, changed very little throughout the years, although each of the controlling nations had their own slightly varying interpretation of the prison regulations.

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Within a few years of their arrival at the prison, all sorts of illicit lines of communication were opened up for the prisoners by sympathetic prison staff. This supplementary line to the outside world was free of the censorship put over the official communications allowed to the prisoners and was also virtually unlimited in volume. Since every piece of paper given to the prisoners was recorded and tracked, the secret letters were most often written on toilet paper, whose supply went unmonitored for the entire duration of the prison's existence. Subsequently, many prisoners took full advantage of this illegal privilege. Albert Speer, after having his official request to write his memoirs denied, finally began setting down on paper his experiences and perspectives of his time with the Nazi regime, which would be systematically smuggled out and be later released as a bestselling book, Inside the Third Reich. Dönitz, amongst other things, wrote letters to his former deputy with regards to the protecting his prestige in the outside world and, when his release was near, gave instructions to his wife on how best she could help facilitate his transition from prisoner back into politics, which he intended to, but never actually did, do. Funk managed to obtain a seemingly constant stream of cognac (all alcohol was banned in the prison) and other treats that he would share with other prisoners on special occasions.

Related Topics:
Inside the Third Reich - Cognac

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A great fear of the prisoners' was the month in which the Russians took command, as they were much stricter in their enforcement of prison regulation and offered poorer quality meals. Each month, the nation in charge would bring their own cook and would, in the case of the American, French, and British months, liberally allow food given to the prisoners to exceed the amount proscribed in established prison regulation, in terms of food energy and volume. The Russians, until being swayed much later into the prisons existence, would offer a daily unchanged diet of coffee, bread, soup, and potatoes, which was much eclipsed in terms of quality by the relatively luxurious food available during the Western months. This was primarily because of the much loathed Russian director, who was feared and despised by Russian and Western soldiers alike, who perpetually enforced these measures. Until his sudden removal from this duty in the early 60s, when he was replaced by another, more accommodating, director, the Russian month was dreaded.

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