Permanent exhibition

Out of here – Inscriptions of people in police custody and immigration detention in Klapperfeld prison – 1955–2002

Since January 2015, the second floor of the former police custody and deportation prison Klapperfeld is open to the public on a regular basis. There are 16 single cells and 2 group cells where people, most of them facing deportation, were detained until the prison was finally closed in 2002. These cells remain in the same condition they were found in when the initiative »Faites votre jeu!« started using the building as a self-organised centre in 2009: inscriptions in more than 30 languages can be discovered on doors, walls, tables and chairs, left by the people detained here over the course of five decades.

Available for visitors are booklets containing over 1,000 inscriptions that have been translated and documented by numerous volunteers since early 2013. In addition, audio installations featuring the voices of some of the translators aim to provide, yet another, acoustic approach to the inscriptions. One exhibition room is dedicated to present background information on immigration detention at Klapperfeld.

This exhibition is available in English and German on site.

Further information: zweiterstock.klapperfeld.de

The permanent exhibitions of the Klapperfeld prison are usually open every Saturday from 3 to 6 pm. Additionally one of the exhibitions can be visited during every public event held in the former prison.

Every 1st Saturday of the month at 5 pm we also offer a public tour.

Groups, school classes etc. who wish to visit the exhibition outside of regular opening hours are invited to contact us in order to make an appointment for a guided tour. Please, call us or write an e-mail.

Klapperfeld

Nachdem sich die Initiative »Faites votre jeu!« Anfang Februar 2009 nach langen Überlegungen und Diskussionen dazu entschieden hatte, das ehemalige Polizeigefängnis Klapperfeld als Ersatzgebäude anzunehmen, stand bereits fest, dass die Nutzung des Gebäudes nicht ohne eine kritische Auseinandersetzung mit der über 115jährigen Geschichte des ehemaligen Polizeigefängnisses stattfinden könne. Ein Ergebnis dieser Arbeit sind die Dauerausstellungen zur Geschichte des Hauses:

Die Ausstellung im Keller behandelt die Entstehungsgeschichte des ehemaligen Polizeigefängnisses und Nutzung während des Nationalsozialismus – 1886–1945.

Im 2. Stock findet sich die Ausstellung »Raus von hier – Inschriften von Gefangenen in Abschiebehaft und Polizeigewahrsam im Klapperfeld – 1955–2002«.