Vladimir Kryuchkov diplomatic service, stationed in Hungary until 1959. He then worked for the Communist Party Central Committee for eight years, before joining the KGB in 1967 together with his patron Yuri Andropov. He was appointed head of the First Chief Directorate (FCD) in the summer of 1971 (upon the order of Andropov)(See Vladimir Kryuchkov, 1996) (the KGB Foreign Operations) and Deputy Chairman in 1978. In 1988, he was promoted to the rank of General of the Army and became KGB Chairman. In 1989–1990, he was a member of the Politburo. A political hard-liner, Kryuchkov was among the members of the Soviet
KGB Prison, Potsdam camps of the Soviet Gulag system. At the end of the 1980s the building acted as a storehouse. With the withdrawal of the Red Army from Germany it was returned in 1994 to the Evangelical Ecclesiastical Benevolent Society again. After restoration in 2007/2008 a memorial site was opened on 29 March 2009, which is open to visitors. A permanent exhibition on the history of the detention prison is currently being worked on. The state of Brandenburg, the Federal Republic of Germany and private donors have put up 2.2 million euros for the memorial site. KGB Prison, Potsdam The KGB Prison