In the former East there was one agent of the Stasi, the secret police, for every six citizens. What did it do to people to be so watched? And what sort of people were they, all those watchers? In her internationally acclaimed debut, Anna Funder presents with startling humour and sympathy the human face of the twentieth century's most repressive regime. Anna Funder lived in Berlin before the Wall came down. She visited Germany again after the fall of communism, and spoke with people about their experiences living under, or within, the Stasi regime. Their stories have become Stasiland.

Reviews

In this notable debut, Australian author Funder presents a fascinating investigation of an important issue in present-day Berlin, namely, the legacy of East Germany's pervasive secret police, the Stasi, who created the most perfect surveillance state of all time, and of those who had the courage to resist during the Communist regime. Funder, who became captivated by Berlin while working there in the 1990s, gathers stories of those with firsthand experience of the cruel Stasi mind-set during the Cold War. For instance, teenager Miriam Weber was imprisoned for attempting escape over the Berlin Wall, Frau Paul was denied access to her ill infant in West Berlin, and East German rock star Klaus Renft was declared by authorities to no longer exist. If these stories were the only ones Funder recounted, the book would lack balance. But here we also meet Stasi agents and informers, including Hagen Koch, the cartographer of the wall, and Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler, a propagandist for the regime and a particularly odious example of the Stasi attitude. Although this is his first book, Funder writes with skill and style. Highly recommended for both public and academic libraries.-Janet Ross, formerly with Sparks Branch Lib., NV Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

"An appealing blend of investigative and reflective reporting, with the narrative drive of powerful human-interest stories. . . . There is no denying Funder's journalistic talents."

To recast a cliche, truth is often stronger than fiction: more powerful precisely because it is real. Stasiland is a case in point. Australian Anna Funder has written an absolutely compelling book about the recent history of the former East Germany, focusing on the effects the actions of the country's secret police, the Stasi, had on ordinary citizens. This book draws you into the world it describes and connects you with the people in that world; people at once part of our common humanity, but at the same time from a different sphere. As good as it is, it isn't the writing that makes Funder's book so powerful. Rather, it is the stories she retells that make it riveting. Funder had the skill (and probably some luck as well) to find people with truly amazing stories to tell, and was then able to coax them into parting with those stories, sometimes for the first time. The result is frightening portraits of ordinary lives made nearly unbearable by a brutal state. But unimaginable hardships were (mostly) borne, and there were many courageous acts within limited possibilities. Despite the entirely inappropriate cover shown here, booksellers should have no hesitation in recommending Stasiland to all and sundry. Lorien Kaye is editor of AB&P. C. 2002 Thorpe-Bowker and contributors

"Its job was to know everything about everyone, using any means it chose. It knew who your visitors were, it knew whom you telephoned, and it knew if your wife slept around." This was the fearsome Stasi, the Ministry for State Security of the late and unlamented German Democratic Republic. Funder, an Australian writer, international lawyer and TV and radio producer, visiting Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall, finds herself captivated by stories of people who resisted the Stasi-moving stories that she collects in her first book, which was shortlisted for two literary awards in Australia. For instance, Miriam Weber, a slight woman with a "surprisingly big nicotine-stained voice," was placed in solitary confinement at the age of 16 for printing and distributing protest leaflets; she was caught again during a dramatic nighttime attempt to go over the Wall. Filtered through Funder's own keen perspective, these dramatic tales highlight the courage that ordinary people can display in torturous circumstances. (June) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.