"Via prison to the West"
The Kaßberg prison and its history - book presentation
On 10 September at 18:00, the Deputy Saxon State Commissioner for Stasi Records, Dr Nancy Aris, will be a guest at the TIETZ City Library. She will present the book "Via Prison to the West" about the Kaßberg prison and its history.
The anthology is the first to provide an overview of the former detention centre on the Kaßberg in Chemnitz. The former Stasi remand centre in Karl-Marx-Stadt played a special role throughout the GDR. All those prisoners who were transferred to West Germany via the prisoner release programme were held here - over 32,000 people in total. The book describes the place of detention, its role in the GDR prison system and the prisoner release programme. Biographical sketches of former prisoners reflect the views of those affected.
Nancy Aris, born in Berlin in 1970, studied Russian, Polish and modern history in Berlin, Moscow and Wroclaw. She wrote her doctoral thesis on the historiography of Stalinism and completed extensive archival research in Moscow. She has been deputy Saxon State Commissioner for the Stasi Records since 2003.
The reading is an event organised by Chemnitz City Library in cooperation with the Saxon State Commissioner for Stasi Records. Admission is free.
For further information please contact:
Uwe Hastreiter, Public Relations
Chemnitz City Library, Moritzstraße 20, 09111 Chemnitz