Topography of Terror

'Topography of Terror' - darkometer rating : 6 - This is the site, right in the middle of central Berlin , where the very nerve centre of the Third Reich 's Nazi reign of terror had its principal seat. This partly explains the somewhat enigmatic name of today's memorial site. Of the Nazi era's actual administrative buildings very little remains beyond a few foundations. But a modern documentation centre added to the site a few years ago chronicles the history of the location in much detail. The most significant physical ruin still present at the site today , however, is unrelated to Nazi history, namely a stretch of the old Berlin Wall . > 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: This is the physical area (hence "topography") which during the Third Reich functioned as one of the main nerve centres of the Nazis ' reign of terror. Right in the middle of Berlin , in the government quarter of the "Reichshauptstadt" ('imperial capital'). It's a roughly trapezoid shape between Wilhelmstraße to the east, Anhalter Straße to the south and what today are Stresemannstraße and Niederkirchnerstraße (back then called Prinz-Albrecht-Straße). The former Hotel Prinz Albrecht became the seat of the "Reichsführung SS" while the Gestapo converted part of their HQ next door into their own "Hausgefängnis" (literally 'house prison'). In addition to t he Gestapo and the SS , other Nazi institutions (such as the SD) had their headquarters here too. So it was from here that Himmler, Heydrich et al orchestrated and directed the persecution of political opponents and other "undesirables".