By Anna Christina Scheiter. In her book “‘Hama‘ as a Figure of Memory. Taboo, Silence, and the Struggle for Interpretive Authority in Syrian Literature” Scheiter explores how different writers kept the memory of the 1982 Hama Massacre alive and interpreted its historical meaning despite government censorship under the Assad regime. Her book asks important questions: How exactly was the violence of 1982 connected to the regime’s rule and how did it impact Syrian society over the following decades? How was the memory of the Hama massacre maintained when it was impossible to document the events or commemorate them publicly? In this article, she further elaborates on her choice of sources, the relevance of the book with the fall of Assad regime, and her decision to write the book in German.