Stasiland is a non-fiction narrative authored by Anna Funder that entails the life, in East Germany, of both victims and members of the Stasi and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It explores the life ‘behind the iron curtain’ through personal anecdotes and interviews. Via Funder’s investigation it becomes apparent that only some of the victims of the Stasi have not fully recovered and that many of their inflictions can be attributed to influences other than the Stasi.
Anna’s first interviewee, Miriam Weber, was clearly disadvantaged by the Stasi’s involvement in her life and it is clearly obvious that she still hasn’t fully recovered. Miriam “became an enemy of the state at the age of sixteen” and this led her through a traumatic chain …show more content…
During the interview Frau Paul is nervous and “sometimes repeats herself”. After recalling Torsten’s initial promising prognosis “she starts to cry”. The GDR government gave her no support after the wall began its construction with an official bluntly stating “If your son is as sick as all that, it would be better if he [died].” Frau Paul had to make the ghastly decision to send her son Torsten to the Westend Hospital with the very possible consequence of never seeing him again. This motivated Frau Paul and her husband to attempt cross the wall which ended in them being caught and sent to Hohenschönhausen prison, a building that had the “smell of misery”. At one point Frau Paul was ordered to clean up a prisoner’s “vomit and blood”. The prison had taken Frau Paul “out of time, and out of place”. When Torsten was finally released to the East he was like “a stranger to [Frau Paul]” talking to her with very formal language. Funder came to the conclusion that there is “no peace for Frau Paul”. As evidence, Frau Paul still has to deal with her scars frequently by working at Hohenschönhausen prison even though she says “I hate this place”, she’s still there. Frau Paul’s life has been crushed and bent by the Stasi; the wounds inflicted upon her are deep and have not fully
Anna’s first interviewee, Miriam Weber, was clearly disadvantaged by the Stasi’s involvement in her life and it is clearly obvious that she still hasn’t fully recovered. Miriam “became an enemy of the state at the age of sixteen” and this led her through a traumatic chain …show more content…
During the interview Frau Paul is nervous and “sometimes repeats herself”. After recalling Torsten’s initial promising prognosis “she starts to cry”. The GDR government gave her no support after the wall began its construction with an official bluntly stating “If your son is as sick as all that, it would be better if he [died].” Frau Paul had to make the ghastly decision to send her son Torsten to the Westend Hospital with the very possible consequence of never seeing him again. This motivated Frau Paul and her husband to attempt cross the wall which ended in them being caught and sent to Hohenschönhausen prison, a building that had the “smell of misery”. At one point Frau Paul was ordered to clean up a prisoner’s “vomit and blood”. The prison had taken Frau Paul “out of time, and out of place”. When Torsten was finally released to the East he was like “a stranger to [Frau Paul]” talking to her with very formal language. Funder came to the conclusion that there is “no peace for Frau Paul”. As evidence, Frau Paul still has to deal with her scars frequently by working at Hohenschönhausen prison even though she says “I hate this place”, she’s still there. Frau Paul’s life has been crushed and bent by the Stasi; the wounds inflicted upon her are deep and have not fully