Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall

Extremely readable. I saw one reviewer here complaining that Anna Funder included too much about herself in the book and that nearly put me off buying it. However, it would have been much drier without those personal touches. They provide an important link between the past and the present. I did not find them intrusive into the sweep of the narrative - in fact, they absolutely enhanced it, making it read more like a novel than a documentary.I thought that I had a reasonable understanding of how a police state such as the GDR operates (partly due to having had a girlfriend in East Berlin very many years ago). And still, several of the stories were quite shocking in terms of the psychological barbarity of the system.There are hints that there was a form of continuation of the Nazi approach and it would be interesting for someone to explore that further. Equally, I was disturbed by reading about the continuation of informal Stasi networks in the unified Germany and how they can still exert power and offer support and patronage to former members - hardly any of whom have been prosecuted for the crimes against decency that they committed.The only reason not to give the book 5 stars is a moral or ethical decision that the author states near the beginning. She was contacted my multiple informers who were not paid Stasi members but recruited to inform on work colleagues, friends and even family. She refused to include their stories on the grounds that they were in need of money (being worse off in the new Germany that their former Stasi handlers) and that she would not reward them financially for telling their tales of treachery. This is understandable but leaves a major gap in our understanding of how the system operated because informers were crucial to it.It was also the reason why I bought the book. There are still police states operating in the world which rely in such a network of informers. I have some acquaintance with one and it would have been very helpful to understand better the mindset of an informer - especially in hindsight after the collapse of the regime that they were usually forced to work for due to fear of blackmail or repercussions on themselves or family if they refused.I would love to know of any books or other works that really investigate that perspective.

This is a remarkable book and piece of writing.Anna Funder tells the history and modus operandi of the Stasi secret police from it's inception in 1949, through to the end and fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. Not only does she tell the story of the Stasi but also that of the whole regime of the DDR.She does this, NOT, by spewing boring historical data, but by telling the stories of real German's in the third person, whose lifes were directly or indirectly affected by the Stasi. These interviews with the Author were all conducted shortly after the fall of the Berlin wall.We meet numerous ex-stasi men, some who have moved with the times and the'New' Germany, some who cannot and in their minds will always hanker for their old life in the DDR.We meet a woman whose baby son needed specialist care in the Western side of Berlin and as a result, after a failed escape attempt spent years apart from her and came back to her a stranger , five years later after he recovered.This woman also served time in the dreaded Hohenschönhausen prison and now is on the preservation committee of the same institution.We meet the Stasi man who drew the line for the laying of the Berlin Wall, over 100 miles worth, who now acts as a tourist guide.We meet Herr Scnitznel who was the television face of DDR propaganda for years, still spewing hatred against the capitalist western world.We meet Julia, whose life was ruined before it began, due to the fact she had an Italian boyfriend that she wouldn't ditch upon Stasi request.They made sure she could not gain employment in ANY of the jobs she applied for, despite the fact she was a graduate who spoke four languages. Later she threatens to complain directly to Honecker(secretary of state) and her persecution ends (she had ditched the boyfriend by this time of her own volition). Julia later ended up a victim of rape and had to undergo a physical from a male member of the Stasi, despite the fact there was a female officer available!We meet Klaus a member of one of the biggest Rock bands to come from East Germany, whose group were told one day, 'they no longer existed', all their records disappeared from sale and no-one would hire them to play, effective overnight. Later they reformed and are now as popular as ever again.Perhaps the best story in this book is that of Miriam, who was arrested at 16 for putting up anti-propaganda bill posters and later jailed when she unsuccessfully failed to cross the Berlin wall and was captured. When she was released and later married, her husband was arrested and imprisoned for applying to emigrate to the west. He died in captivity, the Stasi told her he hung himself, yet would not allow an autopsy on the body.We also meet the puzzle women, who work painstakingly day after day, re-putting together huge sacks of ripped and shredded documents that the Stasi tried to dispose of in 1989.The Stasi had files it seems on almost everyone, spouses informed on spouses, colleagues on each other etc until it bred such paranoia within itself that it imploded.I think possibly the Stasi were even more cruel than the Gestapo that preceded them.Some reviewers of this book criticize Funder for talking to much about her own observations and about herself. I feel this only adds to the book as her prose ebbs and flows beautifully throughout.She has taken a broad historical subject and made it into an engaging and thrillingly enjoyable narrative.The coverage and descriptions especially of Berlin read like a travelogue and I can wait to visit in a few weeks time myself.This is a great book. Buy it and read it for yourself.