Stasiland

In 1945 at the end of WWII, Germany was divided into four occupation zones, with the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union (now Russia) each controlling the land. Further, the capital city, Berlin, was divided into sectors, even though it was located deep within the Soviet zone and, soon after, the United States, Britain, and France united their occupation zones into a single zone, the Federal Republic of Germany (or West Germany). In response, the Soviets started to block off access to West Berlin in an effort to force the new ‘West Germans’ to abandon the city. However, support from Britain and the United States kept West Berlin supplied with food and fuel and, in May 1949, the Soviets ended the defeated blockade.

For the ‘East Germans’ dissatisfied with life under the Soviet communist system, getting to West Berlin was a way to start a new life in the democratic West Germany. Between 1949 and 1961, some 2.5 million East Germans fled from East to West Germany, most via West Berlin. Many of those that fled were skilled labourers, professionals, and intellectuals, and their loss had a devastating effect on East Germany. To tackle this, East German soldiers laid a barrier of more than 30 miles of barbed wire through the heart of Berlin. On the night of August 12, 1961, when it became evident that the West was not going to take any major action to protest the closing, East German authorities began replacing the barbed wire with a 3.5m high concrete wall. East German authorities declared the wall was to protect their citizens from the unwanted influence of capitalism and the West. Thousands of East Germans were captured while attempting to cross the wall and 191 were killed.

In 1989, East Germany’s communist regime was overwhelmed by protesters as a demand for democracy was sweeping across Eastern Europe. On the evening of November 9, 1989, East Germany announced an easing of travel restrictions to the West, and thousands demanded passage through the Berlin Wall. East German border guards eventually opened the borders and Berliners immediately began tearing at the wall; they climbed on top of it, painted graffiti on it, and removed fragments as souvenirs. The next day, East German troops officially began dismantling the wall and, in 1990, East and West Germany were formally reunited.

Stasiland goes beyond this historical account to detail the personal lives of those living through the era of the wall. Anna Funder’s first reference to the Berlin Wall, as ‘one of the longest structures ever built to keep people separate from one another’, shows a human side to a seemingly inhumane structure. Having lived in West Berlin during the 1990s, Funder is able to establish a contrast between this time period and the bleak atmosphere of old East Berlin, with her memories shifting between her 1989 visit, her first post-Wall visit in 1994, and the time of writing, 1996. Stasiland is comprised of a collection of biographical stories that give the sense the country is still divided and struggling with its identity; although the physical entity of the Wall no longer exists, many people interviewed are still reeling from the past. The fragile stories of Klaus, Julia, Frau Paul and Torsten, as well as Miriam and her late husband, Charlie, are in stark contradiction with the ideology present in anecdotes by former Stasi members and disgruntled East Berliners, showing that individuals have dealt with their past experiences in very different ways that the ‘new’ Germany is yet to fully heal.

Never Let Me Go

Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go takes place in a dystopian version of late 1990’s England. In this version of England, although it is not clearly described by the naïve narrator, a state-sanctioned program of human cloning takes place. The control of the government and the lives of the ordinary citizens is only briefly seen and mainly perceived by the narrator, who has little true knowledge of their place and power. Society has accepted cloning as a way to produce replacement parts for citizens, outside of the awareness of clones, enabling ‘originals’ to harvest medical transplants from their clones when required. Clones exist in a series of institutions, with ever decreasing human warmth, away from the rest of the world. The institutions hosting the clones become more and more isolated, giving a bleak and clinical overtone to the lives of clones. The first institution, Hailsham, is a seemingly typical boarding school but the place of ‘guardians’ without real parents causes it resemble an orphanage more than an educational facility. The schoolwork seems meaningless without any clear vocational purpose, however, there is a stress on art and creativity. Upon meeting other clones, the residents of Hailsham realise their school is remarkably humane compared to the other institutes. Hailsham serves as a political intervention wherein a small group of people aim to convince the government that clones have a ‘soul’ through showcasing their art and poetry. After this experiment fails, Hailsham is shut down and the remaining institutions become simple holding pens for the ‘spare parts’.

After graduating, the clones move to ‘the Cottages’, a small farm in rural England, where they live like university students, focused on a major essay they may never get to complete or fast aware does not really matter. The farm is remote and only one person, Keffers, deliberately interacts with them. The clones are left to their own musings and travel to the seaside town of Dover for an excursion. This typical day out seems like a commentary on their intended lifepath, and as they move around the town almost anonymously, their uncertainty of what to order at the café and sticking to themselves reveals their isolation from the real world.

The donation centres are the final institutions for the students, and where they will undergo a series of painful donations of body parts until ‘completion’, that is, their death. The clones fulfil their purpose, largely without questioning, in a sterile, surgical facility. Through the eyes of Kathy, now a veteran carer, we see a small amount of humanity offered in a palliative manner as the clones are systematically harvested for their parts. As she travels from centre to centre, the rural landscape of England plays a part in adding to the isolation felt by Kathy and reveals her fond memories of Hailsham, seen when she believes she glimpses a setting like the school and stops to investigate.