Historical Tour: Rennelberg Prison

In cooperation with the Memorial in Wolfenbüttel Prison, we are offering historical tours through the former prison Rennelberg. Every Saturday and Sunday during the festival, at 11.00 am and 2.00 pm, Martina Staats, historian and director of the Memorial in Wolfenbüttel Prison, will give a guided tour through the former prison to small groups. During the tour, she will explain the history of the institution and the historical features of the grounds and the cell blocks.      

Rennelberg Correctional Facility was built in 1884 and was in operation until its closure in 2024. Its distinctive feature was the women’s wing, which was unique in the district at the time of its construction and during the Nazi period, and which therefore held all the female prisoners in the region. During the Nazi period, it was primarily opponents of the National Socialists who were imprisoned in Rennelberg Prison; most of them were later executed in Wolfenbüttel Prison. The former prison Rennelberg has been up for sale since 2025 and both historians and politicians are campaigning to create a memorial on the site.       

The Memorial in Wolfenbüttel Prison researches and works on the subject of justice and the prison system during National Socialism. Located on the historical site of the former prison Wolfenbüttel, in which an execution facility was established in 1937, it remembers the role of the justice system in that time. Its work also focuses on remembrance culture as well as contact and collaboration with relatives of former prisoners and victims of execution. The memorial is part of the Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation.