The World's Largest Puzzle? Recreating Germany's Destroyed Stasi Files

The Takeaway | Jan 4, 2018

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Right now in Berlin, there’s at least one person piecing together what could be the world’s largest puzzle.

Millions of documents were shredded in 1990 by the Stasi, the state security service of East Germany, who spied on its citizens for 40 years with a single mission: To protect the ruling party. After German reunification, the Stasi Records Act was passed, which gave Germans and foreigners the right to view their files. The Stasi Records Agency has been at work ever since trying to put the pieces back together.

Dagmar Hovestädt, a spokesperson for the Stasi Records Agency, explains the process, and why technology isn't quite up to the task of stitching these documents together. 

This segment is hosted by Todd Zwillich

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