Stasiland
Chapter 1 – Berlin, Winter 1986
Summary • Funder begins her first person narrative by inserting herself as a character in the text. Much like the bruises she encounters, the real impact of what she sees will reveal itself in time. This chapter focusses on the greyness of Berlin contrasted with the green of the air and the tiles – a sickly colour that highlights the way the city is suffocating her. • The toilet madam is reminiscent of the Queen in Alice’s adventure in Wonderland. Absurd in her “purple apron and loud makeup”. • This chapter gives the first indication of the impact on the wall on the lives of Berliners. The toilet madam can’t leave Berlin. • Funder reminisces about learning German and the sense of order that she imagined. • Her initial observations of East Germany give readers a hint at the fall of Communism and the absurdity of what Funder will find. • Funder visits the Stasi Museum in Leipzig. • Examples of absurdity begin to emerge in this chapter – the Stasi order v their failure to see the end of their regime, the surveillance equipment used to spy on their own citizens, the smell samples. • The chapter ends with Funder embarking on her own quest for stories that will make sense of a place that she is already finding confusing and absurd.
Key Quotes • “Tomorrow the bruises will develop on my skin, like a picture from a negative.” • “I sit on a green bench. I look at green toles, breathe green air.” • “Alexanderplatz is a monstrous expanse of grey concrete designed to make people feel small.” • “Berliner schnauzer” • “You know what I would really like to do? I’d really like to have me a look at that Wall of theirs.” • “It is a country which no longer exists, but here I am on a train hurtling through it.” • “East Germany still felt like a secret walled in garden, a place lost in time.” • “It was a bureaucracy metastasised through East German society.” • “Obsessed with detail, the Stasi entirely failed to predict the end of Communism, and with it the end of the country.” • “All the desks were just as they were left the night the demonstrators took the building – frighteningly neat.” • “I found a part time job in television, and set about looking for some of the stories from this land gone wrong.”
Quote Analysis
“Tomorrow the bruises will develop on my skin, like a picture from a negative.”
This quote suggests that there are layers to the impact of the GDR that are only apparent over time. It also suggests that time is needed to process events. The fact Uwe and Scheller believe that there aren’t stories worth sharing suggests that the impact of the GDR might take longer to emerge.
“Alexanderplatz is a monstrous expanse of grey concrete designed to make people feel small.”
The greyness of Alexanderplatz is reminiscent of the greyness and blandness and sameness of the GDR. The colour suggests an absence of life. Funder’s ‘smallness’ also links the Alice’s smallness as she falls through the rabbit hole and finds herself in Wonderland. The imposing nature of Alexanderplatz also points to the way the GDR imposed on its citizens in every aspect of their lives.
Symbols • The greyness of Alexanderplatz. • The green of the stale air and disinfectant pellets. • The toilet madam as the Queen of ‘Alice in Wonderland’.
Key Themes • Absurdity • Oppression • Surveillance