When the GDR collapsed in 1989, the Stasi (Ministry for State Security) started the large-scale destruction of files documenting unlawful activities. All shredded documents that could be saved from being burnt back then are now stored in the Stasi Records Agency – 15.500 sacks filled with paper snippets. A small unit of the agency is working on the reconstruction of the documents that might contain important information on the crimes of the dictatorship and the affected citizens. But without new, automatized methods, it will take several hundred years to descramble the secrets hidden in the sacks. What now?