Anna Funder's Stasiland: Stories From Behind The Berlin Wall

The Lives of Others and Goodbye, Lenin are two movies cleverly depicted about the fall of Communism. One director chooses to portray humor as the base of his movie, while the other chooses a more dark and serious tone. Both directors clearly want their viewers to understand the seriousness of what the fall of the Berlin Wall meant and the importance of Germany’s East West unionization for the citizens of the GSD. However, a hidden truth in both movies is revealed. Truth about a culture that once existed, but has since been swept under the carpet of change. The late 80s brought on the fall of the Berlin Wall signifying the end of the Stalinist regimes that had once held so much power. Outlined below are two movies that, while so different in their delivery, end with the same clear message.

Julia is described as “a woman… only partly attached to the world,” due to the intense surveillance and interrogations by the Stasi. Each character strongly suggests that these ‘ordinary people’ were indeed victims, powerless under the control of the Stasi.

In Berlin, the Iron Curtain had many purposes. It was there to protect, to separate and to enforce a way of life for East Berliners. Firstly, The Wall gave meaning to people’s lives in different ways. It defined where they were to go, who they were to see and who they were to be. For the countless Stasi and informers, it gave them a purpose and an importance in society, and after The Wall came down, that purpose was lost and yearned for. Secondly, The Wall and the controlling ways of the Stasi loomed over the lives of East Berliners, and its implementation was just one of many extreme measures to minimalise Capitalism and encourage Communism. Thirdly, although The Wall

Funder’s use of symbolism in order to explore themes relevant to her own personal struggle with finding comfort and security within the former GDR is a concept central to Stasiland. The author’s more abstract use of darkness enables Funder to draw parallels between her own difficulty living in the former GDR and those who endured the true terror of the Stasi Regime, particularly in the retelling of Miriam Weber’s attempted escape to West Berlin. ‘It was dark...’ on the Eastern side of the Wall, and ‘...in the west the neon shone.’ West Berlin is painted as a safe haven, away from the dangerous and frightening ‘dark’ GDR.

The majority of my prior knowledge was confirmed by the movie. I knew that with the fall of the Berlin Wall, capitalism soon spread itself over East Germany, which was clearly shown. Also, although the majority of the German people rejoiced after the Berlin Wall was opened, many socialists were bitter and felt betrayed by the GDR, such as the socialist colleagues of Christiane. However, the movie could have portrayed the politics and German government more so the audience could have a better understand of what political life was like during the time. Also, the film could have shown how people, like Alex’s father, crossed the Berlin Wall and how difficult it was to make it across.

Following the fall of the Third Reich at the end of WWII Germany was split between east and west into two different countries. In the east the German Democratic Republic was under communist rule and was supported by the Soviet Union. The Federal German Republic was a democracy that was part of NATO. As part of the division of Germany following WWII, Berlin, the capital of Germany was divided evenly between the two nations. However, the entire city of Berlin was deep inside of the GDR, so the Western half of the city was democratic but it was surrounded by communist territory. This made West Berlin a place where many East Germans would try to escape to. As a result of this the German Democratic Republic built a wall surrounding West Berlin to stop its own people from escaping to freedom.

The Berlin Wall is a historical symbol of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall is a symbol of the end of the Cold War. And also, the Berlin Wall played a great role in the life of millions of people and defined the fate of German people, which put them apart by the Wall for a long period of time. Sixteen years after the end of World War II, the communist government of East Germany began building a wall on (August 13, 1961), that would divide the city of Berlin into East Berlin and West Berlin. The purpose was to keep fascists from entering East Germany, but mostly to keep West German citizens, primarily people of valuable professions such as doctors, teachers and engineers, from Changing side to the West. People of Berlin Called the wall Schandmaur, which actually means " The wall of shame". Over the years of the wall being constructed it took at least 3x times to rebuild it, but each time bigger than the last one.

Anna Funder’s literary work, Stasiland, explores into the communist regime of the German Democratic Republic and the ‘internal emigration’ felt due to the advent of the oppresive state. As an investigative journalist, Funder aims to uncover a range or stories of this tumultuous period to give a personal credibility to her exploration. Thus with the use of a subjective voice Funder reconstructs the lives of victims of the regime and aims to uncover the ‘portraits of people’ whose lives were greatly influence by the period. Funder’s oscillation between past and present allows for a natural ‘filling in’ process , which allows for Funder to reflect and comment on her discoveries found

In Funder’s depiction of personal reflections she affords the Stasi victims the ability to present a powerful account of the GDR. By demonstrating the victims to have been inflicted with sustained trauma, evidenced by Julia’s apprehensive stance towards Funder when revealing her story by seeking to rapidly depart asserting “I’ve… got a class”, and leaving Funder to contemplate their conversation due to an “appointment” she had forgotten. Such reservation when revealing her experiences with the Stasi is indicative of the Julia’s Stasi ordeal to continue to permeate her life. This further provides Funder with a powerful foundation for her account by proving the Stasi intrusion on the victims to

In the Stasiland, Anna Funder explores the impact the Cold War has scared victims and enabled them to heal and move on. All the sufferers had different stories to tell and experienced different life traumas but they all had some sort of interrelationship with the East German regime. However, this novel was subjective therefore they may have been other victims we have not heard or felt sympathy for. The Stasiland was a well-written non-fiction

After World War Two, Germany was war ravaged and destroyed. The Allies, Britain, France, United States and the Soviet Union occupied the war-torn and defeated Germany. Germany was split into two sections. The Western part controlled by the U.S., France, and Great Britain. The Eastern part of Germany was controlled by the Soviet Union. Tensions between the West and East emerged during what became known as the Cold War period (1945-1989). The difference in ideologies and ideas led to close calls to war between the west and east. Within the Eastern part of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), society was being controlled ruthlessly by the government. In Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall, Anna Funder discussed the struggles East Germans

The Berlin Wall had a major impact on humanity’s views on how society should be ruled. Berlin is the capital of Germany. After the ending of WWII, Berlin was split up into East Berlin, and West Berlin. East Berlin was communist, suffered from the repressions of the Communist Party. West Berlin had a better lifestyle, and had financial aid from the United States. From the years between nineteen forty-nine to nineteen sixty-one, approximately 2.5 million people from East Berlin escaped to West Berlin. This toll included skilled workers, professionals, and intellectuals. Because of the loss of these people, the economy in East Berlin was threatened. On August twelve-thirteen, nineteen sixty-one, the Berlin was built in order to stop the people of East Berlin from fleeing. The Berlin wall was a major point during the Cold War, and many opposed it. It gave another reason to detest communism.

In his book titled The File, Timothy Garton Ash has written elegantly about his astute understandings of the struggles for political freedom in East and Central Europe. It was not surprising that Garton Ash had attracted the attention of the State Security Service (Stasi), which operated as the internal and foreign spying agency in East Germany till the time the Berlin Wall was demolished. Ash has thoroughly investigated and analyzed the available material that was secretly gathered by the Stasi. Such material comprised mainly of the information that was provided to the agency by its massive network of informers. Garton Ash has also interviewed many of the people that had provided information about him, as also their superiors in the different sections of the huge Stasi bureaucracy that were responsible for dealing with his case. He wanted to investigate and ascertain as to why the informers had behaved in such a manner and why they chose to go along such a path instead of making attempts to offer at least passive resistance (Ash, 1998).

It had been almost 2 years since the Berlin wall was installed by East Germany with Soviet Union’s influence before President Kennedy had arrived in West Berlin. In his Ich bin ein Berliner speech, President John F. Kennedy strongly denounced the construction of the Berlin wall and exemplified the U.S. total support for the unification of Germany. President Kennedy was able to fulfill his purpose by immediately identifying with the plight of his audience with the suggestion that he too was ich bin ein Berliner or “I am a Berliner”. In addition, his presidential visit to war torn West Berlin shaped his speech by promoting the democratic hallmarks of freedom and solidarity while soundly rejecting the flawed ideals of communism. Scholars articulate

In contrast to the desolate picture life in East Berlin painted, the economy of West Germany, which also included West Berlin, was rebounding and becoming quite strong. West Berlin’s businesses were booming, and their industry products were readily and rapidly bought by its resident who were eager to obtain the products and goods they had so long been deprived of previously, as a result of World War II.10 This new and heightening demand for goods pushed wages up quickly, and many new jobs were created with the development of new housing units and other construction enterprises.11 Movies, plays, and concerts were also available for West Berlin residents to enjoy, and overall life in West Berlin was good. However, life on the West side wasn’t all fun and games. Their city was still divided, and families were still separated. To the children of West Berlin residents, East Berlin was hidden from view and shrouded in mystery, their only knowledge of the other side coming through school or some form of media. It seemed they constantly asked themselves the question, “ Will the lives of East and West Germans forever be so vastly different and separate?”