Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Stasi Prison Complex Museum, Lichtenberg, Berlin, Germany

The Hohenschönhausen area was largely industrial prior to World War II. The area later occupied by the main prison building housed a cafeteria for the National Socialist People's Welfare organization. That red-brick building was completed in 1939.
• Special Camp No. 3
In June 1945, at the conclusion of World War II, the Soviet Secret Police took over the Hohenschönhausen area of Lichtenberg and transformed it into a detainment and transit camp, called Special Camp No. 3. The camp served as both a prison and transfer point. Over 20,000 people passed through Special Camp No. 3 on their way to other Soviet camps, including one at the former Nazi concentration camp at Sachsenhausen
Living conditions in the camp were deplorable, with death from malnutrition, disease, or cold common. Although official statistics list 886 deaths at the camp between July 1945 and October 1946, independent estimates put the toll as high as 3,000. Bodies were disposed of in local bomb craters.