The German Federal Archives store 40 to 55 million pages of torn Stasi files. These are to be restored through automatic virtual reconstruction. A previous pilot project was unable to complete the task adequately, as even the Tagesschau reported on 21.04.2023. An expression of interest procedure has now been launched for a two-part project consisting of a scanning process and virtual reconstruction. We are applying for the automatic virtual reconstruction. The core task is to develop an automated process for arranging scanned document snippets into full pages and complete documents.

At the end of January, we visited the German Stasi Records Archive to talk to the Vice President of the Federal Archives, Alexandra Titze, and present our approach. As a research-oriented technology provider, LangTec showcases an innovative AI-based approach that enables efficient processing of the large amounts of text and data that the volume of Stasi documents inevitably represent.

We are going to follow the topic with great interest and look forward to a possible future collaboration!