The making of Syria’s secret library
It is 10 years since a Syrian uprising turned into a full-scale civil war. Amid the many tragic stories of loss and devastation are some remarkable examples of human resilience and courage. The story of the secret library created at Daraya while the city was under siege is one such story, as BBC International Correspondent Mike Thomson explains.
Cleaning book at the secret library. (Credit Media Dept of Daraya City Council)
Few of us know how we would react on being starved, shot at, bombed and besieged for nearly four years, never knowing if we’d be alive at the end of the day. I, for one, can only hope that I could survive the experience without being consumed by fear, negativity and hatred. That, in itself, would be a victory for me. Yet those who built Daraya’s Secret Library, achieved even more. They showed how the human spirit can triumph over the worst horrors of war. That the pen truly is mightier than the sword, books more powerful than bombs and bullets and hope far stronger than hate.
I first came across this extraordinary story back in the autumn of 2015 when compiling a BBC report on what life was like for people living in besieged areas of Syria.
One of the first places I looked at was Daraya, a town on the southern fringe of the capital Damascus. All but a small portion of its pre-war population of 80,000 people had fled just before Syrian government forces laid siege to the area. From then on no one could enter or leave and those who had stayed were left to survive on whatever food they could grow, often planted on their roofs and balconies.
On being given the phone number of a resident there I asked him how he and others coped psychologically, with being bombed, shot at and starved, day after day.
“Mr Thomson, he replied, this is always difficult, but we here in Daraya have a secret weapon, which keeps our sprits high and fills us with hope for the future.”
Was this, I asked him, some kind of huge gun, hidden under camouflage netting and wheeled out whenever the need arose? Struggling to contain his amusement he said:
“No, not at all, it’s something far more valuable than it. We have built an underground secret library, filled with every kind of book you can imagine. There we can escape the devastation, the killing and the hunger.”
Ever since the siege began in the late summer of 2012 the residents of rebel-held Daraya, which had long been a centre of opposition to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, had been under constant bombardment by his forces. The town was littered with hundreds of abandoned, bomb damaged homes. In summer scorching sunshine seared through gaping holes in their roofs and walls, roasting the contents inside, while rain and snow caused equal destruction during the chilly months of winter.
The damage to Daraya town centre. (Credit Media Dept of Daraya City Council)
Word began to spread that thousands of valuable books, many prized by those who had fled their homes, were being ruined by the weather. So, groups of young people, many former university students whose studies had been stopped by the war, began combing the rubble to rescue them.
Collecting the books was a very dangerous business. Those rescuing them often had to climb treacherous piles of debris to get into upper windows. This often meant coming into the sights of Syrian government snipers, who lay in wait, crouching on the top floors of the grim, concrete tower blocks that ringed the edges of Daraya.
Yet by 2016 15,000 books, covering just about every subject you can imagine, had been rescued and stored in the town’s secret library, built in the base of a crumbling apartment block. The library’s creators wrote on the inside cover of each one where it found, along with a special identification code, so that all could be returned to their owners when the fighting was over.
One of my first interview was with 14-year-old boy called Amjad, a local boy who had stumbled upon the secret literary sanctuary when seeking shelter during a bombing raid. This enchanting child, whose bright brown eyes constantly brimmed with enthusiasm, told me about that day:
“When I first walked into the library, it was exhilarating and a complete surprise. There were so many books. Some were piled high on top shelves that I couldn’t reach. I made up my mind to try and memorise every single book. But there were so many of them that I didn’t know where to start. I said to one of the men in charge: I want to stay here. They agreed and have looked after me ever since.”
But why, I wondered, did people starved of food not spend their time searching for food rather books? It was a question I put to former university student, Anas Habib, one of the founders of the secret library who had later helped look after young Amjad. His answer was brief, but said it all:
‘Just like the body needs food, the soul needs books.’
Anas’s response brought me back to the first man I’d spoken to in Daraya, who had told me how the town’s ‘secret weapon’ helped them survive psychologically. Yet how did his friends on the frontline, young men who were daily risking their lives to keep government troops at bay, feel about their friends sitting in an underground library reading books?
Well, few people in Daraya loved the secret library more than, Omar Abu Anas, one of many young rebel fighters defending Daraya. He and others would borrow books from the secret library and take them to the frontline. Then, during lulls in the fighting, he and others organised ‘book clubs’ in their foxholes. For Omar books held the key to better times.
“Books motivate us to keep on going. We read how in the past everyone turned their backs on a particular nation, yet they still made it in the end. So, we can be like that too. They help us plan for life once Assad is gone. So we are in the process of planning what comes next. We can only do that through the books we are reading. We want so much more than Assad. We want to be a free nation. And hopefully, by reading, we can achieve this.”
Sadly, the very day after Omar’s words were broadcast around the world over the radio, Omar was killed. Not long after that rebel fighters in Daraya were forced to surrender as Pro-Assad closed in. Within weeks their treasured secret library was discovered, looted and destroyed.
But this is not the end of the story as far as the founders of the secret library are concerned. One of them, former business and economics student, Abdul Basit Al-Ahmar, has pledged to return to Daraya with his wife, Zohour and rebuild it as soon as possible. Though given the way the decade-long conflict has turned in favour of President Assad, he may have a long wait. Yet his deep love for the secret Library, expressed in the following words, leaves me convinced that that won’t stop him:
Abdul Baset Al-Ahmar, one of the founders of the secret library. (Credit Media Dept of Daraya City Council)
“It gave us a precious space where we could breathe hope instead of despair. It liberated us from suffering and savagery. Inside its walls the love of science, literature and ideas filled the air. This symphony of books soothed our hearts. As we entered, its aura revived us, like fresh air to a suffocating man. It was the oxygen for our souls. It was a place where angels met. Each time I stepped inside, I flew with them.”
Since writing my book I’ve kept in touch with Abdul Basit, Anas Habib, young Amjad and many others from Daraya, all of whom I feel privileged to call friends. Their amazing courage, resilience and optimism for the future, despite all they’ve been through, is surely an example to us all.
By Mike Thomson, BBC International Correspondent
You can read more about the remarkable story of the library at Daraya in Mike Thomson’s book, Syria’s Secret Library.