Prinz Albrecht Palace
At Wilhelmstrasse 102 lay Prinz Albrecht Palast, where SD (Security Service) had established its headquarters in 1934. In 1939, SD became part of the newly established RSHA (Reich Central Security Agency) where all police departments within the SS belonged. In 1941, the palace was extensively rebuilt to become RSHA chief, Reinhard Heydrich, official office. RSHA was the driving force that took on a leading role in the extermination of European Jewry. The Palace can therefore be said to be the stronghold of the Nazi crimes from which all activities were planned. In November 1943, the palace was badly damaged during a bombing and was never rebuilt. The ruins were finally destroyed in 1949 and the only thing that remains is the foundations after the colonnade at the gate into the courtyard.
Current status: Demolished with museum (2010).
Address: Wilhelmstrasse 102, 10963 Berlin.
Get there: Metro to Kochstrasse Station.
Follow up in books: Höhne, Heinz: The Order of the Death’s Head: The story of Hitler’s SS (1969).
The Prinz Albrecht Palast was located just behind the Gestapo headquarters on Prinz Albrecht Strasse and is part of the headquarters exhibition Topographie des Terrors. Several other SS departments were also nearby. For a couple of decades after the war and during East german time, the former Palace grounds became a driving practice ground for driving license aspirants.