The Klap­per­feld

The history of Klapperfeld

The Klap­per­feld police pri­son was built in 1886. Since then, there have been many dif­fe­rent pha­ses of use. From the 1980s until the buil­ding was clo­sed in 2002, pri­soners awai­ting depor­ta­tion were detai­ned here. Since 2009, the Klap­per­feld has been home to the »Fai­tes votre jeu!« initia­tive, which has taken on the his­to­ri­cal-poli­ti­cal exami­na­tion of the buil­ding. The rooms are self-mana­ged and used non-com­mer­ci­ally for cri­ti­cal, poli­ti­cal, artis­tic and cul­tu­ral work. The exhi­bi­tion RAUS VON HIER. Inscrip­ti­ons by pri­soners in depor­ta­tion detention and police cus­t­ody in Klap­per­feld 1955–2002 takes a clo­ser look at the use of the pri­son in the last deca­des before its clo­sure. The num­e­rous inscrip­ti­ons tell the sto­ries of the detai­nees and illus­trate the importance of poli­ti­cal remem­brance and coming to terms with the history of such a place in the heart of Frankfurt.

Detention pen­ding depor­ta­tion today

What is a thing of the past in Klap­per­feld is still a rea­lity in other places in Hesse: detention pen­ding depor­ta­tion still exists. As an admi­nis­tra­tive mea­sure, it is not orde­red on the basis of a cri­mi­nal offense, but ser­ves solely to secure or prepare the depor­ta­tion of so-cal­led »for­eig­ners obli­ged to leave the coun­try«. As the Euro­pean Court of Jus­tice has pro­hi­bi­ted detention pen­ding depor­ta­tion from being car­ried out in pri­sons since 2014, seve­ral detention pen­ding depor­ta­tion faci­li­ties have been put into ope­ra­tion at fede­ral state level. The Darm­stadt-Eber­stadt faci­lity for detention pen­ding depor­ta­tion (AHE) has been in ope­ra­tion since March 2018 and was expan­ded at the end of 2020.