1989
Berlin, 2009

Haus 1 der ehemaligen Zentrale des Ministeriums für Staatssicherheit (MfS, Stasi)

The facility is located in a large part of the building complex built in 1930-1932 for the Lichtenberg tax office. At the end of the 1970s, the Ministry for State Security had extensive expansion work carried out, for which, among other things, residential buildings by Max Taut in Normannenstraße were demolished and the New Apostolic Church relocated. Inside the grounds, a canteen was built (a listed building since 2015) and additional tall office buildings were erected on Ruschestraße.

After the fall of the Wall and the peaceful revolution in the GDR, there were numerous protests by angry GDR citizens in front of the Stasi headquarters. Inside the building, ministry employees were busy destroying extensive file material. After the storming of the headquarters on January 15, 1990, many documents were saved. On November 7, 1990, the ASTAK opened the "Normannenstraße Research and Memorial Site" with the exhibition "Against the Sleep of Reason." Since then, House 1 has been open to the public as a museum. The exhibition includes the official and working rooms of the former Minister for State Security Erich Mielke and other rooms.