Großes Holländisches Haus

In Potsdam stands the Großes Holländisches Haus, a brick building in the clear style of the Netherlands. It went up between 1733 and 1737 as a city palace with service rooms for the commander of the royal guard. Friedrich Wilhelm I commissioned it at a time when he had declared Potsdam a garrison town. The king admired Dutch brickwork because it came from the homeland of his grandmother, a country he had visited several times. The house was part of his effort to expand the city and accommodate his regiment. Under this project, both the population and the number of houses in Potsdam grew markedly.

Its role changed with each political turn. During the French occupation from 1806 to 1808, Napoleon's troops used the building as a clothing depot and horse hospital. In 1809 it hosted the first elected city council meeting. By 1820 it had become a courthouse and prison, expanded over time to meet growing judicial needs. Under the Nazi regime it served ideologized and racist justice, and opponents, Jewish people and forced labourers were imprisoned there.

The darkest chapters followed. After the Second World War, the Soviet secret service ran the house as its central investigation prison. Then the East German Stasi took over, detaining thousands until 1989. Only after the peaceful revolution did the building find its present use: it is now a memorial and educational site, preserving remembrance and learning where once there was imprisonment.