Münchner Platz Memorial, Dresden

Münchner Platz Memorial, Dresden ( for German speakers ) - darkometer rating : 2 - Part of a former courthouse and prison in Dresden , Germany , that was used as an execution site both by the Nazis in the Third Reich and by the communist Soviet and GDR regimes in East Germany. A few former cells can be seen, a monument as well as a new, extensive, text-heavy exhibition (mostly in German). > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: The grand courthouse at Münchner Platz was the location of the Saxon Royal Regional Court from 1907. During the Third Reich the Nazis used the site as a "Special Court" associated with the infamous "Volksgerichtshof" (People's Court) in Berlin , i.e. it became part of the Hitler regime's repression of opponents through the restructured judicial system. From 1936, Dresden became one of the main sites were the Nazis executed those sentenced to death during political trials (e.g. for alleged "treason"). Following the 1938 annexation of the "Sudetenland" and the establishment of the "Protectorate" of Bohemia and Moravia in today's Czech Republic , death sentences handed down by Nazi courts in those territories were routinely carried out here in nearby Dresden too. Death sentences increased dramatically from 1942 when more and more offences could carry the death penalty … while the fortunes of the war effort were beginning to turn against the Nazis. See also Plötzensee . In total ca. 1300 executions were carried out at the Münchner Platz courthouse. About two thirds of the victims were Czechoslovakians. The site used for executions was the courtyard between the courthouse itself and the adjacent remand prison complex.