I lived in former East Germany for two years, less than a decade after the Wall fell. (1997-1999) At the time (as a 19 year old), the Wall felt like a very long time ago. 8 years? That’s forever! These days, I realize that 8 years is much less time. (I mean, we’re talking about stuff that would have happened in 2016. That’s like yesterday.) So while I thought at the time the experience I was having was already mostly “German” and not “East German,” I realize now how wrong that was. How all the people I was speaking with and interacting with had all lived under the East German regime for decades, and how that had really changed all of them.
At the moment, I’m in research mode for another book I’m working on. This one takes place in East Germany in 1979, 18 years before I lived in the area. While much of what I know of the area can help me, it’s still a far cry from the details I really need to know. One of my biggest knowledge gaps is around the Stasi. How exactly the East German government kept tabs on its populace, and what that looked like in practice. I had spoken with many people about this tangentially, but never full on. For a historical fiction book set in East Germany, however, that’s not going to be enough. I really wanted to delve into the details and see what I might come out with.
So I did the natural thing for a librarian: I looked for a solid book about it.
Anna Funder’s Stasiland was the perfect answer. She uses the framework of the time she spent in former East Germany tracking down stories from people whose lives were affected by the Stasi to really illustrate how how big of an impact that organization had on the country. If you’re not aware, the Stasi was essentially the secret police of East Germany. They were quite literally Big Brother, keeping tabs on everything their citizens were doing: reading their mail, listening to their phone calls, reviewing their job evaluations, and more. But what made them even more nefarious was the penchant for pressuring common, everyday citizens to become spies for the Stasi. To turn on their friends and neighbors.
Yes, some people became “informal informants” voluntarily, whether due to patriotism or a dislike of the people they were informing on. But many of them only did so because they were blackmailed into it. Threatened with prison for themselves or their family, or with losing their job or their freedoms. And so they were left with felt like no other choice but to go along with it. At the height of the Stasi’s power, 1 out of every 65 citizens in East Germany was either a member of the Stasi or an informant for them.
And they kept records of everything. Transcripts of phone calls. Copies of letters. Notes on secret meetings. Each citizen had a file, and those files were thick.
Beyond simply keeping tabs on the populace, they did unspeakable acts against them. Full blown torture. All in an effort to keep everyone controlled. Reading over Funder’s book, you see example after example of people whose lives were ruined and warped by the regime. She also speaks with members of the regime themselves, some of which are still convinced that what they did was the right thing to do.
It’s a fantastic book, and I very much recommend it. It gave me such a better understanding of what happened back then, which in turn helped me understand many of the interactions I had with people back when I lived there in the late 90s. And of course, it gave me much better information to use to frame my book. 9.5/10. Check it out.