Stasiland
Character Map
Anna Funder: 30 year old journalist living in Berlin; narrator of the text #
Interviews
Inspired by:
Miriam: Enemy of the state at 16 years of age; investigating her husbands death.
Julia is the Landlord of
Julia: 30 year old loner, victimised by the Stasi. Raped in 1989.
Friends
Klaus: Ageing rock star and heavy drinker
Frau Paul: Separated from her ill baby son by the wall; imprisoned for helping students escape the GDR.
Interviews
Herr Winz: Former Stasi employee; active member of the insiderkomitee
Herr Christian: Worked for the Stasi in border control and in monitoring communication; punished for no advising Stasi of his extramarital affair. (had resistance and resilience - rebellious)
Hagen Koch: painted the line on which the wall would be built; runs a 'Wall Archive' and bus tours of the Wall. (had resistance and resilience - rebellious)
Herr Bock: Former professor at the Stasi's training academy; specialist in recruiting informers.
Frau Paul's son; Torsten
Memory
Frau Paul - Can't Forget
Klaus - wants to forget
Miriam & Hagen Koch - refuse to forget.
"Memory is Fundamentally unreliable"
Herr Bohnsack: Former member of the Stasi's espionage unit; outed himself to local media.
Courage Vocab
strength
fortitude
tenacity
resistance
endurance
survival
persistence
Anna Funder admires values and repects the personal fortitude displayed.
Victories were private: Miriam, Julia, and Frau Paul eventually won.
It is their own rebellions: Herr Bohnsack - He broke the stasi code of honour and - He outed himself and chose to share his story (pg242)
Herr Christian (pg 152) Hagen Koch (pg 178)