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 their time making envelopes together in the main corridor. The Allied powers originally requisitioned the prison in November 1946, expecting it to accommodate a hundred or more war criminals. Besides the sixty or so soldiers on duty in or around the prison at any given time, there were teams of professional civilian warders from each of the four countries, four prison directors and their deputies, four army medical officers, cooks, translators, waiters, porters and others. This was perceived as a drastic misallocation of resources and became a serious point of contention among the prison directors, politicians from their respective countries,