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.

The Spandau Seven

The prisoners, still subject to the petty personal rivalries and battles for prestige that characterized the party politics of the Nazi regime, divided themselves up into a few groups: Albert Speer and Rudolf Hess were the loners, generally un-liked by the others -- the former for his admission of guilt and repudiation of Hitler at the Nuremberg trials, and the latter for his anti-social personality and perceived mental instability. The two former Grand Admirals, Erich Raeder and Karl Dönitz, stayed together as a matter of seniority, despite the heated dislike they shared for each other ever since Raeder was replaced as Commander in Chief of the Navy by Dönitz in 1943. Baldur von Schirach and Walther Funk were described as "inseparable"2 , and Konstantin von Neurath was, being a former diplomat, amiable and amendable to all the others. Despite the amount of time they spent with each other, remarkably little progress was made in the way of reconciliation between prisoners. A notable example was Dönitz's dislike of Speer being steadfastly maintained for his entire 10 year sentence, with it only coming to a head literally during the last few days of his imprisonment.

Related Topics:
Albert Speer - Rudolf Hess - Loner - Hitler - Anti-social - Grand Admiral - Erich Raeder - Karl Dönitz - Baldur von Schirach - Walther Funk - 2 - Konstantin von Neurath

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Albert Speer

The prisoners were assigned numbers corresponding to the order in which they were first assigned cells and were, by regulation, referred to by their number only. Speer, number 5, was the most ambitious of the prisoners, designating himself to a rigorous physical and mental work regime, scheduling "vacations" of two weeks in length every few months where he relieved himself from his self imposed routine. He secretly wrote two books, a draft of his memoirs entitled Inside the Third Reich and a collection diary entries, The Spandau Diaries, and kept busy on his architectural works, actually designing a Californian summer home for one of the guards.1 An oft repeated activity that he took up was a "walking tour of the world" by ordering geography and travel books from the local library and walking laps in the prison garden visualizing his journey. Meticulously calculated, he traveled over 24,000 km before his release.

Related Topics:
Inside the Third Reich - The Spandau Diaries - Californian - 1

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Erich Raeder and Karl Dönitz

"The Admiralty", as the other prisoners referred to Dönitz and Raeder, were often teamed together in various tasks. Raeder, with a like for rigid systems and organization, designated himself as chief librarian of the prison library, with Dönitz as his assistant. Both men often withheld themselves from other prisoners, with Dönitz claiming for his entire ten years in prison that he was still the rightful head of the German state, and Raeder having contempt for the insolence and lack of discipline endemic in his non-military prison-mates. After Dönitz's release in 1956 he wrote a pair of books, one his early life, My Ever-Changing Life, and one on his time as an admiral, Ten Years and Twenty Days. Raeder, in failing health and feared of being close to death, was released in 1955 and died a few years later in 1960.

Related Topics:
1956 - My Ever-Changing Life - Ten Years and Twenty Days - 1955 - 1960

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Rudolf Hess

Rudolf Hess, sentenced to life but without being released due to ill health like Raeder, Funk, or Neurath, served the longest sentence out of the seven and was by far the most demanding of the prisoners. Agreed on being the 'laziest man in Spandau', Hess avoided all forms of work that he deemed below his dignity, such as pulling weeds, and was the only one of the seven who almost never attended the prisons Sunday church service. A paranoid hypochondriac by nature, he repeatedly complained of all forms of illness, mostly stomach pains, and was suspicious of all food given to him, always taking the dish that was placed farthest away from him as a mean to avoid poisoning. His stomach pains often gave rise to wild and excessive moans and cries of pain throughout the day and night and their authenticity were repeatedly the subject of debate amongst prisoners and the prison directors. Raeder, Dönitz, and Schirach were contemptuous of this behavior and viewed them as cries for attention or as means to avoid work, rather than out of pain. Speer and Funk, acutely aware of the likely psychosomatic nature of the illness, were accommodating to Hess. Speer, in a move than gained more of the ire of his fellow prisoners, would often tend to Hess's needs, bringing him his coat when he was cold and coming to his defense when a director or guard was attempting to coax Hess out of bed and into work. An interesting fact is that sometimes when Hess was wailing in pain, affecting the sleep of the other prisoners, the prison's medical officer would inject Hess with what was described as a "sedative", but was in actuality just distilled water, which succeeded in putting Hess to sleep. The fact that Hess repeatedly skirted duties the others had to bear and received other preferential treatments because of his illness, was loathed by some of the other prisoners and earned him the title of "His imprisoned Lordship" by the admirals.

Related Topics:
Hypochondriac - Psychosomatic

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Hess, also as a matter of dignity, was unique amongst the prisoners in that he refused all visitor for over twenty years, finally accepting to see his long since adult son and wife in 1969 after suffering from a perforated ulcer that required his treatment at a hospital outside the prison. Fearing for his mental health, now that he was the sole remaining prisoner, and that his death was imminent, the prison directors thereafter agreed to slacken most of the remaining regulations, moving Hess to the more spacious former chapel space, giving him a water heater so as to allow the making of tea or coffee when he liked, and permanently unlocking his cell so that he could freely access the prisons bathing facilities and library.

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