Let L be a local system on the complement X⋆ of a normal
crossing divisor (NCD) Y in a smooth analytic variety X and let j:X⋆=X−Y→X denotes the open embedding. The purpose of this paper
is to describe a weight filtration W on the direct image j⋆L and in case a morphism f:X→D to a complex disc is
given with Y=f−1(0), the weight filtration on the complex of nearby
cocycles Ψf(L) on Y. A comparison theorem shows that the
filtration coincides with the weight defined by the logarithm of the monodromy
and provides the link with various results on the subject