From Berlin’s Stasi files to Aleppo’s courtrooms, Syria’s fragile reckoning with decades of repression hinges on rescuing the paper trail before memory – and justice – slips away. Paul Hefel-James reports.
As Syria begins the fragile work of transitional justice, its investigators are turning to an unlikely model: the archives of East Germany’s secret police.
Syrian investigators from the National Commission for Transitional Justice (NCTJ) are learning how to salvage and maintain records of atrocities from Berlin’s Stasi Records Archive, one of the world’s most extensive collections of state surveillance and repression.
The New Internationalist is an independent bi-monthly not-for-profit magazine that reports on action for global justice. We believe in putting people before profit, in climate justice, tax justice, equality, social responsibility and human rights for all.
New Internationalist acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We acknowledge that these lands were stolen and sovereignty was never ceded. We pay our respects to Elders both past and present.
© Copyright New Internationalist 1973-2026. Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under Creative Commons.
Except where otherwise noted, images on this site are © the attributed photographer/illustrator or representative agency.