On eight pages, the publication, now hot off the press, not only provides information on the registration office, but also on the topics: "The inner-German border", "Violence against dissidents" and "Refugees and resettlers". It also deals with the subject of why there were officially no political prisoners in the GDR.

Only a few months after the construction of the Berlin Wall began, the Central Registration Office of the State Justice Administrations in Salzgitter, which was affiliated with the Braunschweig Public Prosecutor General's Office, began operations on November 24, 1961. Under the impression of the political events and the first victims of the shoot-to-kill order, the justice ministers and senators of the federal states had assigned the office the task of registering certain regime-related violent crimes committed in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) and securing evidence. This was intended to create the conditions for later prosecution of those responsible and to raise awareness of injustice among potential perpetrators.

With the reunification of the two German states in October 1990, the registration activities in Salzgitter came to an end. The office, which has since continued to operate under the name "Central Documentation Office of the State Justice Administrations" and was relocated to the Braunschweig Higher Regional Court in 1994, was given numerous new tasks. For example, in the first few years after "reunification", around 42,000 investigation files, which had been created, for example, on suspicion of homicides at the inner-German border, for obstruction of justice or abuse in the prison system, had to be copied and handed over to the responsible public prosecutor's offices in the new federal states for criminal evaluation.

The data material, which was originally recorded in a coded index card system, has already been transferred to a user-friendly computer system. However, the files are also still available as a source of information. The data collection is of great value for future historical documentation. This has already been recognized by numerous scientists who regularly use the existing data material for research purposes.

Since November 9, 2009, a stele in front of the former building - now the police headquarters - has commemorated the Central Registration Office in Salzgitter. The memorial plaque dedicated to the victims of the division and dictatorship bears the inscription "The Central Registration Office of the State Justice Administrations operated in this building after the Wall was built from 1961 to 1992. It was a hope for many".

The leaflet is available from the Department of Culture, Wehrstraße 27, in the police building in Salzgitter-Bad and in the two Citizens' Centers in Salzgitter-Bad and -Lebenstedt.