Britannia Centre Spandau Rudolf Hess. Five weeks after the death of Hess on 17 August 1987 at 1610 hours, the demolition of Spandau Prison began and was completed on 4 November 1987. In May 1988 the construction of the new facility started and was finished on 18 September 1990. The name "Britannia Centre" was chosen by competition from over 40 entries. The shopping center was also nicknamed "Hessco's" after the well known British supermarket chain, Tesco, and the prison's final occupant. After the Berlin Infantry Brigade was dissolved in mid-1994 the Britannia Centre Spandau lost its name and became the only unnamed shopping
Spandau Prison received a shave and a haircut, if necessary, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday; they did their own laundry every Monday. This routine, except the time allowed in the garden, changed very little throughout the years, although each of the controlling nations made their own interpretation of the prison regulations. Within a few years of their arrival at the prison, all sorts of illicit lines of communication with the outside world were opened for the inmates by sympathetic staff. These supplementary lines were free of the censorship placed on authorised communications, and were also virtually unlimited in volume, ordinarily occurring on