The new Syria

Over fifty years of dictatorship. Fourteen years of war, destruction, flight and fear. This is Syria. Millions of people have been driven from their homes, hundreds of thousands have lost their lives. And now - a new beginning? A free Syria?

Lutz Jäkel, photojournalist and author, has known Syria for over thirty years, both up close and from afar. He has lived in Damascus, travelled the country many times, made friends, learned to love the Syria of the people, not the Syria of power. He had to stay away for fourteen years because of the war. For him, Syria seemed lost, the revolution of 2011 a failure. That's what many thought.

Then, suddenly, the turning point in December 2024: the regime fell. And just a few days later, Lutz Jäkel set off, returned to the maltreated country and travelled there again a few months later. He met up with old acquaintances and long-time friends.

The return to Syria is the Middle East expert's most personal journey. A search for clues in a country that is torn apart but not lost. While travelling through the new Syria, Lutz hears stories of grief and loss, but also of incredible resilience, hope and the beauty of human solidarity. He talks to people who have stayed or returned, documents their stories, their doubts, their quiet confidence as well as their joy at their new freedom.

After the great success of his first live reportage about Syria before the war, Lutz Jäkel's new live reportage is a journalistic protocol, an emotional look at a country in upheaval, at Syria and its people after the war and dictatorship. Where the silence ends after decades of fear.
This live reportage is being organised in cooperation with the Bocholt Volunteer Agency. https://vhs.bocholt.de/kurse/gesellschaft-leben/politik-geschichte/kurs/Das-neue-Syrien-Reise-durch-ein-Land-im-Umbruch/BV1102