The Ettersberg Foundation was set up in 2002 at the initiative of the Spanish author and Buchenwald survivor Jorge Semprún. It is dedicated to comparative research into European dictatorships and to exploring and re-examining the Socialist dictatorship in East Germany. It is a forum for dialogue about ways of approaching and understanding the history of dictatorships in Germany and Europe, with the ultimate aim of contributing to the stabilisation of young democracies. In 2012, the Ettersberg Foundation took over the establishment and running of the Memorial and Education Centre Andreasstraße in the former Stasi remand prison in Erfurt.