HOW DO WE DOCUMENT THE INJUSTICES OF A DICTATORSHIP?
Insights from Syria and the Process of Reckoning with the Socialist Unity Party of Germany Dictatorship
Gedenkstätte Berlin-Hohenschönhausen
Sep 25, 2026
The MENA Prison Forum (MPF), UMAM Documentation & Research, the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial, Syria Prisons Museum, and medico international are pleased to invite you to the closing event of the exhibition “SEDNAYA: The Architecture of Repression and Death in Syria.”
The event will take place at 17:00 on 25 September 2026 at the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial in Berlin.
Language will be German.
For tickets, please register here: veranstaltungen@stiftung-hsh.de
How Do We Document The Injustices Of A Dictatorship?
Following the fall of the Assad regime, Syrian society, the academic community, and human rights organizations faced the task of documenting crimes, preserving testimonies, and laying the groundwork for a future reckoning with the past. How can survivor testimonies, security apparatus documents, and digital evidence be preserved? What prospects exist for the bereaved and the victims? What lessons from the process of addressing the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, SED) dictatorship might prove useful for Syria?
Program
Welcome:
- André Kockisch, Deputy Director, Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial
- Amer Mater, Director, Prisons Museum
Moderated Discussion:
- Marcus Hicken, Head of Mission / Chargé d’Affaires, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Damascus
- Anwar Al-Bunni, Syrian lawyer and human rights activist
- Marianne Birthler, Former Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records
- Moderator: Dr. Ilyas Saliba, Research Associate at the Chair of International Relations and Conflict Research, University of Erfurt