Stasiland Review
Over the Autumn holidays, our English teacher, Blair Mahoney, assigned us to read a minimum of one book from the Wider reading list. I wanted something out of my comfort zone, so I decided to read about Political agenda and world history. I was recommended ‘Stasiland’ by my librarian and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a leap into reality.
Stasiland, written by Anna Funder, accounts multiple stories of tyranny and freedom behind the Berlin Wall during the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Anna, the narrator, describes her accounts with former citizens of East Germany. She meets Miriam, declared enemy of state at sixteen and her landlord Julia, left “seeking for work” in the flawless state. She also retells her interviews with some of the most powerful men at the time, the ex-Stasi agents. Throughout the novel, she visits and discusses the GDR with the people who spied and monitored the nation and the globe, now in await for Socialism to go.
Funder clearly addresses the political agenda I was looking for and the dive into World history during the Cold War in Germany. In respect to the Wider Reading Program, this book would fit into the 20th category of a Melbourne author. Stasiland was a great read and really showed me the horrors of the Cold War and East Germany, which rose from the ashes of Hitler’s Third Reich. It really shows me how lucky we all are to be living in Australia, in pure Socialism, where on the other side of the world, some twenty years ago, millions suffered under Capitalism.
I would most definitely recommend Stasiland by Anna Funder for anyone interested in knowing the secrets behind the Cold War.
