Eingesperrt, um Frei zu Sein - Das Geheime Frauengefängnis der DDR plot
Behind the high walls of the 700-year-old Hoheneck Castle in East Germany's Erz Mountains, thousands of women were held captive in overcrowded, icy cells in GDR times. In large halls they had to make products (from underwear to shirts) that were exported to the West. Political prisoners sat among common criminals and murderers, sometimes with 21 women in 1 cell. That was a deliberate policy of intimidation by the management. The women were at the mercy of sadistic guards and had to watch out for infiltrators who were placed among the prisoners by the secret police to extract information from them. The outside world hardly knew anything about the prison, which was not marked on any map. For the first time, former prisoners and guards talk about life in Hoheneck. Exclusive and never-before-seen archive images illustrate their story and show what life was like in prison.