An amazing look at East Germany, through interviews with ex-Stasi (the German Secret Police) and people who had run-ins with them. Chilling.

The most powerful story to me was of the man who actually painted the line down the middle of Berlin, where the Berlin Wall was to go. His past was scary and really encapsulated what a totalitarian society can do to a family.

According to the book (p 57, my mum has left a note in the front cover for me), Hilter's Third Reich had one Gestapo agent for every 2000 citizens. Stalin's USSR has one KGB agent for every 5830 people. "In the GDR, there was one Stasi officer or informer for every sixty-three people. If part time informers are included, some estimates have the ratio as high as one informer for every 6.5 citizens."

The author is Australian, and I believe the book has just been published in Germany, with mixed reactions.

Registering this for a bookring! (After I finally got it back from Mum. She actually finished reading it weeks ago, but it got buried under another pile of books, so it took a bit of finding...)

Participants so far are (in probable posting order):

augustusgloop (Sydney, Australia)
divegurl (Sydney, Australia)
tantan (Brisbane, Australia)
EDDI (Melbourne, Australia)
fuji (Sydney, Australia)
jackiea (Sydney, Australia)
hotflash (Arizona, US)
booklemur (UK)
RikkiDD (Germany)

And then back to me, tqd!

Received from tqd at tonight's MeetUp at the ArtHouse. Looking forward to reading this especially given recent hoopla and favourable reviews. Thanks for organising this ring tqd (and digging under buried books!).

I found this absorbing, thought-provoking and utterly fascinating. I've been to Berlin and I remember our brilliant walking tour guide engaging us with amazing stories--bringing home the enormity of impact of the Wall for its prisoners. We visited the Museum at Checkpoint Charlie which relayed heroic accounts of escape and we even went to Sachsenhausen, the premier-model concentration camp initially used by the Nazi's and then by the Stasi.

Reading these stories gave another layer of meaning to my memories of Berlin, and what life must have been like--not that we could ever guess how constant, unrelenting, overtly covert monitoring of our 'personal' lives would affect us psychologically. The long-term ramifications on individuals and especially society at large is one which doesn't seem to have been explored or even recognised.

I don't want to give anything away, but Miriam's story was particularly amazing and the puzzle women...well...you'll see...

I really liked Berlin when I was there, albeit briefly. The coming together of its people will take time, one suspects, but the city definitely has a certain energy about it. Funder has done really well with her ability to tell these stories with compassion.

Thanks for organising this ring tqd. Because I read this so quickly, and because I've been raving on about it so much, I'm detouring the book to divegurl who has promised to read it at rapid speed. Then it'll continue on to tantan. I promise! *g*

I plan to read it. Duh!

CAUGHT IN MARRICKVILLE NSW AUSTRALIA

Hi. Sorry I've taken so long with this (and apologies for the previous anonymous entry which we shall call an "unauthorised journal entry" by persons who shall remain unnamed!).

In the end I didn't get a chance to quite finish this but enjoyed it nevertheless. I forsee myself not getting a chance to finish this at the moment so I'm passing this along.

Thanks for including me on this ring tqd.

Sorry for the slightly-longer-than-speedy detour. I've got the book back now and will PM tantan so it can continue its journey.

EDIT 3/11/04: Popped in today's post to tantan. Enjoy!

Received in the mail yesterday. A couple down on the bookrings/rays pile, but I'll get to this as soon as I can.

This was definitely a very powerful account of some of the lives affected by the Berlin Wall, and the way of life in East Germany. Many thanks to tqd for sharing. I've definitely leart a lot from this read. It'll be off to EDDI as soon as I have an address.

Arrived today, thankyou! As I am going away for a month on the 15th, I will do my best to read it before I go.

Have started this a few times (before I went away and again when I came back). Seems like an interesting book but I am just not in the right frame of mind. I apologise for keeping it so long but will mail it on as soon as I get fuji's address.

Just received in the post - thanks to all of the above BCers.
I'll try to read it soon.
f

This book arrived at a time when I was preoccupied with several things and I wasn't sure if I was in the right mood to read it but after the first few pages I was hooked. Anna Funder has done me a great favour by showing me what living behind the Wall was really like for some people. It amazes me that these stories have been so hidden and that they were relatively easy for Funder to discover.
The politics are explained so clearly that I was never lost, just totally absorbed in these people's stories. I didn't really want it to end, I wanted more Miriams, more Stasi Men, more stories.

Similar to Haruki Murakami's _Underground_ in that it examines both the victims and the perpetrators, _Stasiland_ is one of the best non-fiction books I've read in some time. Funder's tone & approach were perfectly pitched and I would read her next book without hesitation.
f

CAUGHT IN SYDNEY NSW AUSTRALIA

My apologies for mistakenly writing the above journal entry as "Anonymous Finder"...
230305
I have PMed jackiea but have not had a response as yet...will try again.
fuji

Just arrived in the mail. Thanks fuji for the neat postcard!

Great book! I really enjoyed the various stories, especially the 'puzzle women'!
I did feel that frau Funder was a tiny bit intrusive at times. I would have preferred to read the stories without her social comments, I think the reader is more than capable of making up his/her own mind about the pros and cons of the Socialist state.
Thanks tqd for the opportunity to read it.
It will be travelling on again soon.

First, an apology for taking so long to journal receipt of this book. It arrived in Tucson about 1.5 weeks ago. I, however, have been living in Phoenix (about 2 hours away) for the past four weeks, taking care of my Mum while her husband is hospitalized, battling Acute Leukemia. My husband brought this book down to me last weekend. I have not been able to find the time to "highjack" someone's computer to journal that I now have the book in my hands.
So, all that said, I would like very much to read this book, if no one objects to it taking me a bit longer than usual (might be as long as three weeks). If I don't receive a "pass in on now" note, I go ahead and start reading it as soon as I can and then I will journal again as soon as I finish reading.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book.
I remember when the wall went up (I have a piece of it from when it came down !). I was only 11 and growing up in Canada, with no connection to Germany at all, but there was something about the newspaper accounts (I kept a scrapbook) of the abrupt division of Berlin that chilled me even at that young age. Until I read this book, I really had no idea that the Stasi existed. I am embarrassed at my ignorance. What a phenomenal tale of control, paranoia, subtrafuge, deception, ...a culture based on "us against them", all wrapped up in the guise of patriotism and protection of its citizens.
This darkness and sadness hovering around the people in this book will stay with me for a long time. Miriam's life story was particularly disturbing; Frau Paul's tale about being separated from her son was proabably the most pathetic; Herr Bock exuded the most evil...just pure evil.
I enjoyed Anna Funder's writing style and personal asides. This one appealed to me the most - a thought I have had at times myself. From page 47: "I dislike being made aware that my heart is just a small pump, pushing all that blood around..."

I PM'd Booklemur a few days ago...no answer yet....but it "vacation" time of year...will pass the book along as soon as I have an address.

Sending this book off tomorrow to RikkiDD in Germany.
Sorry to pass booklemur by, but I have sent three PMs over the past month and have not received a response. If she surfaces, maybe she can be added back in at the end????

The book just arrived at my letterbox and I started reading immediately. Thanks for sending Hotflash.
-----------------------------------------------------
edit 07. October 2005

What a wonderful book.
I grew up in eastern Germany and was fortune not to get into the hands of the Stasi, although, of course I knew that you had to be careful what you say to whom.
For me it was interesting to read the stories seen from a view of a complete outsider. Anna Funder writes in a very neutral way about the history which is not that far away, to be exact it ended 15 years ago.
I think she did a great job in research all the diffrent stories as far as I can say.
From my own experience I have to say I didn't feel it that worst. Of course in political education at school (I think you all had some kind of courses for political or economical belongings) they taught you only one side of the medal, but nearly everyone knew how to handle it. It was already in summer 1989 that I way ask if I want to join the party (everyone would have been ask a around 18 years old). I ask for a bit of time to "think" over it and only 3 months later everything was over. Also this difficult time was discriped very good in this book.
For me it is not that easy to write evrything in short I want here, but if anyone of you want to know more, don't hesitate to write a PM.
P.S. There is one more thing I just want to mention. The stories in the book are stories from a few people who got really in trouble with the Stasi. Usually you would get in contact with them. So no-one of my family and friends (as I know) got in any contact or evenproblems with the Stasi.

RELEASE NOTES:

back on travel (by surface mail - so it will take a while, sorry but I'm a bit short of money right now)

I was just sitting at the computer, catching up on email, and then turned around to go and actually do something constructive (the washing up is teetering somewhat...) to discover that a nice mail delivery person had thoughtfully just left a couple of packages on the open windowsill, rather than disturbing me.

So now I'm back at the computer, avoiding housework. :)

Thanks everyone for participating in this ring, the book is home now, and looking pretty good for its journey around the world!