Hamelin Prison, also known as the Stockhof, was a prison and penitentiary in Hamelin, Germany. The penal institution, which had a predecessor since 1698, existed from 1827 to 1980. It was located between the old town and the river Weser. After the Second World War, it was the site of executions carried out by the occupying British forces.
The listed prison buildings are now used as a hotel.
History
The penal institution dates back to the Stockhof built in 1698, which housed prisoners condemned to build a fortress. The name came from the fact that the prisoners were tied to stocks in their dormitory at night to prevent escapes.
A new prison was built in 1713 because of overcrowding. In 1827, a new building was built on the former site of the Hamelin Fortress directly on the Weser, from which some of the remaining remains of the building originate. There were three wings and outbuildings. This was the Royal Penitentiary, which became a Prussian prison in 1866.
Nazi period
Plaque in front of the prison
From 1933, during the Nazi period, hundreds of political prisoners were imprisoned, in addition to around 500 criminal prisoners. According to the National Socialist rulers, it was primarily communists and social democrats, but also homosexuals and the Jews. In 1935, the outer walls were raised, and the institution was converted into a penitentiary. During the Second World War, political prisoners from France and Denmark were added, also as Nacht-und-Nebel prisoners. According to official statistics, 305 prisoners died between 1939 and 1945, 55 of them after their liberation by American troops. At the end of the war, on April 5, 1945, while the city was being shelled, the SS ordered the prison to be evacuated and the camp to be walked to the Holzen subcamp[de], which became a death march along the Ith for many prisoners.
Another 44 people were executed for violating the laws of occupation. Among them were 42 former forced labourers, some of whom were from Eastern Europe. The last execution in Hamelin was on December 6, 1949, on the Pole Jerzy Andziak (a displaced person) for the use of firearms resulting in death.
In 1955, Hamelin Prison was closed and the inmates were transferred to the Justizvollzugsanstalt Celle. On October 1, 1958, the prison became a juvenile detention centre, whose prisoners were transferred to the newly established Hameln juvenile detention centre in Tündern in 1980. This ended the prison operations. In 1986, the cell building, east, and west wings of the facility were demolished. The remaining parts were converted into a hotel, which opened in August 1993.
Political prisoners during the National Socialist period
