The notorious Sednaya prison is located north of the Syrian capital Damascus. It was completed in 1987 as “Military Prison 1” and used by dictators Hafez Al-Assad (1971–2000) and Bashar Al-Assad (2000–2024) as a detention center for political and other prisoners. It became a place of horror: prisoners died from executions, torture, and disease. Syrians gave Sednaya the name “human slaughterhouse.”

The exhibition “Sednaya: Syria's Architecture of Repression and Death” is based on an intensive investigation of detailed spatial documentation of the building complex, of 1000s of related records, and of over 100 eyewitness accounts from former prisoners. The aim is to uncover what happened in Sednaya and to understand how the prison functioned.

By combining witness statements, documents, and spatial analysis, the functioning of the prison is reconstructed: the organization of the departments and cells, the surveillance and control system, and the methods of torture, punishment, and execution in Sednaya.

The interactive exhibition allows visitors to navigate through the virtually reconstructed rooms—from group cells to execution sites—using 3D glasses and gain insights into the everyday life of the prisoners. Reports from survivors recounting their first days in prison and their struggle to survive under extreme conditions accompany the reconstruction. Personal belongings, letters, and artifacts make life within the walls tangible.

The exhibition, a result of a common effort of researchers, investigators and architects of the Prisons Museum e.V. in collaboration with a multitude of courageous survivors and witnesses, preserves the memory of those who suffered in Sednaya. It aims to highlight the physical and political structures that enabled state violence. It is an invitation to confront the consequences of authoritarian power for people and the importance of memory and responsibility.

Open: 26 March - 27 September 2026 | Daily 10 AM - 6 PM

Location: Gedenkstätte Berlin Hohenschönhausen, Genslerstrasse 66, 13055 Berlin

UMAM Documentation & Research/MENA Prison Forum and medico international, in cooperation with the Prisons Museum and the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial Foundation, will stage several side events during the duration of the exhibition (details to be announced).

The Prisons Museum is a Syrian NGO, based in Berlin and Damascus, that documents evidence of prison crimes and creates virtual and physical museum spaces in support of accountability, justice and memory for the MENA region and beyond.

UMAM Documentation & Research (Beirut/Berlin) is a Lebanese organization that documents political violence, authoritarian practices and systems of incarceration and promotes memory, accountability and justice. The MENA Prisons Forum (MPF), a UMAM initiative, organized the event series 'Understanding Prisons' in Berlin.

The Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial Foundation provides information about repression and political justice in the GDR at the former prison site. It conducts research and addresses dictatorial systems of repression worldwide in its educational events.