Stasi Museum or Hohenschönhausen Memorial: which to visit, tour times and tickets

💡 The Short Version: Hohenschönhausen is the former Stasi remand prison and is seen only on a guided tour: €9, about 1.5 hours plus a film, with English tours daily at 10:40, 12:40 and 14:40, booked in the memorial’s ticket shop. The Stasi Museum is the former ministry headquarters, with Erich Mielke’s offices as they were: €12, open Monday to Friday 10:00 to 18:00 and weekends 11:00 to 18:00, with an English tour at 15:00 Monday to Saturday for €5 extra. Pick Hohenschönhausen for the prison itself, and the Stasi Museum for the machinery of the secret police. Neither is on the Museum Pass Berlin. Or book a tour: the Cold War, Berlin Wall and Spies walking tourad is from €20.31.

The two sites

Hohenschönhausen

The Stiftung Gedenkstätte Berlin-Hohenschönhausen runs the memorial on the site of the Stasi’s central remand prison, and sells tours in its ticket shop. Between 1951 and 1989 more than 11,000 people were held here for political reasons. Large parts of the site and buildings have been preserved. A tour of the former prison is only possible as part of a guided tour, led by former political prisoners and historians.

• The English tour lasts about 1.5 hours plus an introductory film. It takes in the grounds of the former detention centre, the cells and the interrogation rooms.
• Reduced price covers college students, trainees, severely disabled people, holders of the Berlin proof of entitlement, ALG 1/2 recipients and unemployed people.
• Access. The new building and the basement prison are wheelchair-accessible by lift, but not for wide electric wheelchairs. The memorial asks you to register in advance.
• The exhibitions are free and separate from the tour. “Imprisoned in Hohenschönhausen” is open daily 10:00 to 18:00, and “Involuntary Community” daily 10:00 to 16:00.
• Visitor rules. The memorial asks for appropriate and respectful behaviour and publishes visitor rules on its site. Not all buildings are fully barrier-free.

A courtyard at the Hohenschönhausen Memorial. Photo: PantheraLeo1359531, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Stasi Museum

The museum is in Haus 1 of the former Ministry for State Security, built in 1960 and 1961 as the office of Erich Mielke, who was minister from 1957 to November 1989. It is run by an association and sells tickets at stasimuseum.de. Mielke’s offices are preserved as they were and form the core of the museum.

• The English tour is at 15:00 Monday to Saturday and lasts about one hour. Afterwards you explore the ministry floor and the exhibition on your own. It is limited to 25 people and booked through Korona.Event, and there are no public tours on Sundays. The German tour is at 13:00.
• The exhibition is in German and English, with examples of Stasi files, photographs and objects. Audio guides are in German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish and Polish.

The entrance to the Stasi Museum in Haus 1, from Ruschestraße. Photo: Singlespeedfahrer, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

Tours worth paying for

Both sites sell their own tickets and tours, so a paid tour adds a wider route. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices, per person.

Cold War, Berlin Wall, spies and the East Side Gallery

From €20.31 · 3 hours · 408 reviews

Cold War, Berlin Wall, Spies and the East Side Galleryad is a walking tour of the Cold War in Berlin: its origins, life behind the Wall and its fall.

What to see

1. Hohenschönhausen for the prison itself: the cells, the interrogation rooms and the accounts of former prisoners. Book the tour first, since the prison is not open otherwise.
2. The Stasi Museum for Mielke’s offices and the files, and for the one-hour English tour at 15:00 if you want a guide.
3. Both, if you have the time. They are in different parts of the city.

Erich Mielke’s office in the Stasi Museum. Photo: Anagoria, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.

What to skip: the Stasi Museum’s tour if you read English: the exhibition is in English, and the audio guide is €2.

Getting there

• Stasi Museum: the U5 from Alexanderplatz to Magdalenenstraße, exit Ruschestraße. From Frankfurter Allee on the ring S-Bahn, the museum is one U5 stop or about 10 minutes on foot.
• Hohenschönhausen: tram M5 to Freienwalder Straße, tram M6 or 16 to Genslerstraße, or bus 256 to Große-Leege-Straße. The memorial says not to take the S-Bahn to Hohenschönhausen station. Parking for cars and buses is free nearby.

The DDR Museum shows daily life in the GDR, and the Berlin Wall Memorial and Checkpoint Charlie cover the border. What to book before you go to Berlin has the closed days for every sight, and Museum Pass or WelcomeCard says that the all-inclusive WelcomeCard includes the Stasi Museum. 3 days in Berlin places both around the other sights. A day trip to Leipzig includes its Stasi museum, the Runde Ecke: see day trips from Berlin. The Berlin underground tours include a Cold War shelter and the Wall escape tunnels.