(K)eine Jugend

Gedenkstätte Geschlossener Jugendwerkhof Torgau

About this app

»The day is coming when I'll be free again!«

What could happen to young people in the GDR if they were considered non-conformist or rebellious? They could quickly be labeled as “difficult to educate” and placed in a home against their will. There they were supposed to be re-educated - even through violence. The entire pedagogy in these homes was aimed at seamlessly integrating the young people into the socialist system through “re-education”. They sometimes had to deal with physical violence, loneliness and rigid rules. The limited free time left little room for individual development or personal retreat. Most children and young people in these re-education facilities did NOT experience YOUTH like their peers. And yet it was ONE YOUTH, their youth in the GDR. Let Thea, Rico and Sven tell you about it:

Receive daily video messages and messages and find out why they came to the home and what happened to them there. Find former home locations in your region and ask questions in a chat. Unknown terms such as youth work center or socialist personality are explained briefly and simply in a glossary with pictures. Did you know that in 1989 only 11 out of 100 GDR citizens owned a telephone? You can also find exciting facts about the GDR in this app.


The app is a project of the Torgau Closed Youth Works Memorial. The memorial commemorates the young victims of the socialist re-education practice and today stands as a symbol of the entire inhumane penal system of the GDR re-education facilities, which around 135,000 children and young people had to go through over the course of GDR history.

The project was funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media and the Federal Foundation for Coming to terms with the SED Dictatorship as part of the federal program “Youth Remembers”.