Stasi

of the KGB under Soviet occupation and commonly known as the Stasi was the official state security service of the German Democratic Republic of East Germany. It has been described as one of the most effective and repressive intelligence and secret police agencies to have ever existed. The Stasi was headquartered in East Berlin, with an extensive complex in Berlin-Lichtenberg and several smaller facilities throughout the city. The Stasi motto, ”Schild und Schwert der Partei" (Shield and Sword of the

written by Anna Funder demonstrates thorough understandings of victims of the Stasi were never fully healed following the collapse of the East German regime. In the novel, Funder investigates the lives of different citizens in East Germany. Each individual, Funder has interviewed has shown different experiences in their live but they all had one thing in common. They all had some sort of interrelationship with the Stasi. Anna Funder has written this novel to illustrate the historical events occurred

East Germany is a mysterious environment, created by the yearning to camouflage into the greyness of ones surroundings. Intense control limits a human’s capacity to think, without ownership over your thoughts - determining a future and making sense of a tainted and oppressive environment can become paralysing. Therefore, throughout East Germany a truth did not exist as fear had given people the inability to formulate opinions to their full extent. Everyone had an idea as to what had occurred as

power held by the government. She further conveys the historical importance of the former Stasi operatives to be powerful in presenting a complete depiction of East German society. However, it is also through Funder’s presentation of the former East Germany to be permeated by its history that creates her powerful portrayal of East Germany. 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

reader on life in East Germany. To some extent, Anna Funder does paint a black a white picture of her views, separating the victims from the perpetrators. As she despises the GDR/Stasi, Funder still acknowledges that many of the officials were just doing what was told and were reluctant to react, in fear of falling under the stasis harsh rules. Despite this, many of the officials were strong believers in the system, and do not regret life damaged due to their job. The Stories of Miriam, Julia and Frau

film follows Georg Dreyman, an established East German playwright, who becomes the subject of a full-scale Stasi surveillance. Gerd Wiesler is the Stasi officer put in charge of this surveillance, which is supposedly to investigate Dreyman’s loyalty to the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (Socialist Unity Party). It is through Wiesler’s investigation of Dreyman that we see how the Stasi had no boundaries when it came to privacy. During the movie Wiesler bugs Dreyman’s apartments and threatens

Symbols For Deeper Understanding Within “ I am my own wife” By Doug Wright symbols are used for a better understanding beyond just obvious wording of the play. Gender stereotypes, Identity, and Discrimination or Hate groups or even the objects used in the play a very important part in the story line. Stereotypes of what makes a man or woman differs from culture to culture. As an example in some places pink is considered manly for the boldness of the color and blue is meant for women due to the

My hand skimmed the edges of the simple pine box that housed Papa's body. The dismal clouds that weighed heavily above seemed to parallel the gloom in my heart. Darkness appeared to overpower any light and like the absence of rain, my tears no longer stained my cheeks as well. It had only been sixteen days since Josef and Anton left. Now as I stood here alone near a shallow gravesite burying the last remaining person I cared for, I had neither very little reason to go on nor the strength to say goodbye

Ever since I was a young girl, I’ve had an immense interest in learning about the past, more specifically, the past of my very own ancestors. This interest was what pushed me to start learning German when I was eleven years old. With every year and every German class we learned about sentence structure, verb conjugation, and most importantly, I was introduced to German authors. But, in all of my years of learning German and reading different works, I was never introduced to any German authors

“How does Funder explore the legacy of totalitarianism?” 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