Four-Power Authorities of Germany. Both were in West Berlin, Germany, and existed during the Cold War from 1948 to 1989. These were the Berlin Air Safety Center and Spandau Prison (which was demolished in 1987 when Rudolf Hess, the sole remaining prisoner, died). These two organizations were uniquely four-powered in that American, British, French, and Soviet authorities cooperated in their management. This was a far cry from the intensely adversarial relations the allies had with the Warsaw Pact leader in almost every other aspect of world affairs during this time. Both organizations remained low-profile and secretive during their existences to avoid highlighting
Spandau Prison of Hitler, and journalists such as Egon Kisch and Carl von Ossietzky, were held there in so-called protective custody. Spandau Prison became a sort of predecessor of the Nazi concentration camps. While it was formally operated by the Prussian Ministry of Justice, the Gestapo tortured and abused its inmates, as Egon Erwin Kisch recalls in his memories of Spandau Prison. By the end of 1933 the first Nazi concentration camps had been erected (at Dachau, Osthofen, Oranienburg, Sonnenburg, Lichtenburg and the marshland camps around Esterwegen); all remaining prisoners who had been held in so-called protective custody in state prisons were