Stasiland: Theme Summaries Flashcards
What are the themes in Stasiland?
. Truth vs lies/deceit . Power vs powerlessness . Victims and innocence . Propaganda . Political ideology . Guilt . Justice . The past: remembering vs forgetting . Moving on . Individual conscience and courage . Stories . Love . Oppression and control . Motivations . The physical environment . Irony
Examples of truth vs lies in Stasiland.
. Miriam tells the Stasi what they want to hear when she is being interrogated; so desperate to sleep and realising that her ‘truth’ won’t satisfy them, she makes up a fantastical story, which is believed.
. Funder comments on the lack of action to find out certain truths after the Wall fall: Miriam finds it virtually impossible to discover the truth about Charlie’s death, and his death became symbolic of the search for truth in Stasiland.
. The election results in 1989 were believed falsified.
. The destruction of files by the Stasi was an attempt to conceal the truth of their activities.
. Kids being given “vitamins” in sporting institutes
. Denying the past is a refusal to accept the truth
Examples of political ideology in Stasiland.
. The party pays lip service to institutional democracy as The Party and its instrument, the Stasi, run everything in the GDR.
. Herr Winz brings a copy of The Communist Manifesto that he signs and gives to Funder; he claims to be waiting for the second coming of socialism believing capitalism won’t last.
. Those, like Julia’s mother, who are ambivalent about politics are, however, practical and do what is expected of them by the regime to avoid trouble.
. Julia’s father finds living with a political ideology he does not support more difficult as “[h]e would come home hollow” (page 96), he became depressed, as he didn’t agree with having to acknowledge fiction as fact.
. Funder mentions examples of the type of studies pursued by the regime; she sees a thesis titled: “On the Probable Causes of the Psychological Pathology of the Desire to Commit Border Infractions.” (Page 37).
. The woman who works at the TV archive building believe von Schnitzler is not ‘a turncoat’ like the others; she is one of those nostalgic for life before the Wall came down.
. Von Schnitzler is still deeply resentful of the “capitalist, imperialist West.”
. Hagen Koch was forced through circumstance to work for the regime
. Some East Germans kept their head down, toed the party line and just focused on living
. Funder is steeped in traditions of democracy and capitalism
Explain the theme of guilt in Stasiland.
Funder explore several types of guilt in Stasiland. This includes: . Personal guilt (Frau Paul, Miriam) . Absence of guilt . Perspectives . Funder's guilt . National/community guilt
Examples of guilt in Stasiland.
. East Germans are taught to associate Nazism with West Germany (national/community guilt).
. Funder suggests a lack of repentance by former Stasi men (absence of guilt).
. Miriam interprets Stasi preoccupation with the coffin as an admission of guilt.
. Michael Hinze feels no guilt got what happened to Frau Paul.
. Frau Paul has wrestled greatly with her feelings of guilt about Torsten, especially her decision to leave him in the West rather than be used as bait by the Stasi.
. Funder feels a form of guilt for the dreadful memories she encourages Miriam, Julia and Frau Paul to recall (feels like she is hounding Miriam by further invading her private world).
Explain the theme of victims in Stasiland.
Funder stretches the reader’s interpretation of who the victims of the GDR regime may be. Clearly characters such as Miriam, Charlie, Julia, Frau Paul, Klaus, are victims. Characters such as Hagen Koch and Herr Bohnsack are victims too, however, they are very different types of victims as they did not experience:
. Interrogation
. Imprisonment and
. Intense personal surveillance
Examples of victims in Stasiland. Maybe use for character summaries
. Frau Paul loses the experience of mothering her child as a baby and toddler.
. Miriam has never fully recovered from being in prison because “prison left [her] with some strange little tics” (page 5), and she Ro,vets doors and likes to be able to get a clear view outside.
. Julia gradually “withdrew from things”; her dreams of becoming an interpreter or translator are never fulfilled (page 105).
. Klaus loses a number of years from his music career and suffers the indignity of his music being stripped from the shops overnight. The regimes oppression resulted in his band being eliminated overnight. Interestingly, he doesn’t seem as upset and he is more accepting - but he does drink a lot.
. Her Koch experiences the Stasi meddling in his marriage to such an extent that his wife leaves him + can’t even go to fathers funeral
. Funder observes: “large and small mysteries were accounted for when the files were opened. Not least, perhaps, the tics of the ordinary man in the street”. Her comment reflects the suffering of the many other victims of the regime (although not explicitly mentioned in the book - still important to recognise)
. Julia’s father suffered depression after his retirement in 1989 and she blames it on him spending so much time on having to comply.
. Charlie lost his life and the others were left with life-long scars from their treatment at the hands of the Stasi.
. Herr Bohnsack finds himself between a rock and a hard place; ostracised by his former Stasi colleagues for “outing himself”, but still not accepted by others.
Explain the theme of justice in Stasiland.
Anna Funder implies that the reunited Germany has failed to seek justice for those who were victims of the GDR regime and its instrument of control, the Stasi.
Examples of justice in Stasiland.
. The irony that ex-Stasi found it easier to get jobs as they seen as reliable.
. Miriam and Ursula decide to make their own justice; they didn’t think it was fair the the police roughed people up.
. Funder comments on Miriam: “and underneath the need to know is the need for justice” (page 280).
. The judge who signed the warrant for Charlie’s arrest is still serving on the bench.
. Funder believe the puzzlers are simply a symbolic act.
. Funder highlights the minimal sentence handed to Erich Mielke and the irony that so many of those involved in the administration were able to find good jobs after reunification.
. This is juxtaposed with the story of Miriam’s search for justice in the case of Charlie’s death - despite her efforts she realises she is going nowhere.
Explain the theme of the past: forgetting vs remembering
Funder is fascinated by the question of how those who lived in the former GDR (whether believers in the regime or not) deal with the past.
Examples of the past (remembering) in Stasiland.
. Ossis regret the passing of socialism. Ostalgie is the term given to those who are nostalgic for the former East Germany.
. Herr Winz misses the security of the GDR; he claims it was much safer.
. Funder considers how history influences the present and the future.
. The role of museums and memorials is considered in Stasiland.
. Miriam’s painful retelling of her story to Funder (page 106) - she remains “suspended”.
. Culture shock experiences by some people brought up in the GDR after reunification.
. Klaus tends to be nonchalant about and un-resentful about what happened to him, preferring to simply take life as it comes, rather than dwell on what could have been.
. Julia slowly reveals her past whilst seeing a psychotherapist (she withdrew from the world after her imprisonment, experiments with the Stasi and the trauma of being raped. Her psychotherapist encourages he to confront her last in order to move on with her life.
. Funder also meets various people who work hard to keep the memories of the GDR alive - volunteers who don’t want people to forget the unrelenting control of the Stasi exercised over the East German population run some of the museums Funder visits (preserve buildings, store archives, display photos and provide guided tours)
. Funder weighs up views while she narrates Stasiland, leaving the reader quite sure that she strongly believes clear memories of the past must be maintained.
. Professor mushroom has nostalgia for the past
Examples of the past (forgetting) in Stasiland.
. There are those who want to keep the GDR as history, while other are embarrassed by the past.
. “Why are some things easier to remember the more time has passed since they occurred?” (Page 14)
. “To remember or forget - which is healthier? To demolish or to defence it off. To dig it up or leave it in the ground?” (Page 52)
. The debate after the Wall fell about what to do with Stasi files. Some people wanted them completely destroyed while others felt a strong need to access their Stasi files.
. Uwe’s dismissive response to the letters that come to the radio station; Funder feels everyone is claiming innocence.
. Wanting traces of the wall to disappear - it’s a reminder than the wall could come back.
. Some Germans would prefer to forget the past: “you know, they just want to stop thinking about the past. They want to pretend it all didn’t happen” (page 45).
Why does Funder believe that memories of the past must be maintained.
In order to honour those who have suffered, and also to ensure that the wrongs inflicted on many East Germans, as well as the brutal and extreme surveillance of a whole population by a government, are never forgotten.
Explain the theme of individual conscience and courage. (Good paragraph start example)
Stasiland highlights the different types of conscience and courage demonstrated by people. Funder recalls Herr Winz, Herr Christian and Herr Koch “and the different kinds of conscience there are” (page 192).
Examples of individual conscience and courage in Stasiland. (Look at practice essay)
. Funder is overwhelmed by Miriam’s courage in her attempt to escape over the wall.
. Miriam’s courage in confronting the Stasi about Charlie’s death and funeral.
. Obedience and disobedience - do you have to be courageous to be disobedient? Are those who comply without question lacking in courage? What about obeying when it’s not in ones best interests? Miriam stops obeying the summonses to report to Stasi offices.
. The physical and emotional costs of courage
. Sixteen-year-old Miriam and Ursula making and distributing leaflets: we’re they courageous or foolhardy?
. Frau Paul refusing to act as bait for the Stasi
. Funder hi lights the difficulties for people in the GDR to speak out. They couldn’t simply write a letter to the editor to complain as an Australia could.
