Hate Exposed In Stasiland By Anna Funder

The non-fiction novel ‘Stasiland’, written by ‘Anna Funder’, Funder shows that victims of the Stasi were never fully healed following the fall of the East German regime. In Anna Funder’s explorations into the cruel reign of communism, she searches and interviews a range of people who she believes have great courage and bravery facing the GDR. Funder shows that people like Julia Behrend, Miriam Weber and Frau Paul have something in common being the victim of the Stasi and how being under their control they have been impacted. Funder shows that those victimised by the Stasi were never fully healed instead imprisoned in fear and memories of their past.

Julia Behrend is a bright character in the text ‘Stasiland’, her interview with Funder shows

Miriam became an enemy if the state at the age of sixteen, she almost escaped East Berlin in 1968 but was caught and imprisoned. After her release she married Charlie who was later Stasi custody. Miriam states “When I got out of prison, I was basically not human”, implying that she never fully healed due to the inhumane acts done towards her by the Stasi. This can link to other victims of the Stasi, people like Miriam can never forget their past or change. Miriam mentions she “Still (has) the scars on (her) hands from climbing the barbed wire. This shows that not only the scars on her hands haven’t faded, but also the scars of her past have remained. Meriam has developed “strange little tics” illustrating that the fear of her past chases her. This suggests that prisoners of the Stasi left prison with so much fear that their physical scars became a part of their life, showing readers an understanding of how bad the and violent the Stasi were to their victims. Miriam Weber spends decades searching for her Husband’s (Charlie Weber) case, the Stasi release false evidence about Charlie and how he died. The time spent searching for her husband’s true evidence shows us that Miriam is hurt on the inside suggesting that she isn’t fully healed. Miriam Weber gives us an understanding of how Stasi victims were treated and how they left prison, and how their memories or physical scars became a

Torsten is her son, during her interview with Anna ‘Frau Paul’ seems nervous and anxious, Anna mentions that she “Sometimes repeats herself” showing readers what effect the Stasi had upon her and what they left inside of her. This shows us that she was trapped in fear of her memories of what the Stasi had done to her. Frau Paul isn’t fully healed even after the fall of the East German regime. Anna mentions “She was made a criminal in the GDR, and because, saddest of all, she still feels like one”, this demonstrates the effective power the Stasi had on ordinary individuals like Frau Paul. Saying that “She still feels like one” though the East German regime fell implies how victims of the Stasi were never fully healed. Frau Paul references “The wall went straight through my heart” after she was separated from her son, this shows the how brutally she was affected by the wall and how much effect it had on her. Frau Paul is a demonstration of an ordinary victim of the Stasi who never fully healed following the collapse of the East German regime.

In ‘Stasiland’, Funder demonstrates that victims of stasiland were never fully healed following the collapse of the East German regime. Miriam Weber, Frau Paul and Julia Behrend are still dealing with their past scars, they are representations of victims who were brutally treated by the Stasi