History Memory Forgetting

The discovery of Hitler’s bunker split German society, leaving it torn between preserving the site or burying it. To preserve the site offered the chance to remind people of their history, in the hope they didn’t repeat it, to face the past head on. This also meant the possibility of constant reminding of a painful past and even some chance there may be people who would enshrine the location to try and relive the past. To bury it meant that the painful reminder was gone. However, it also appeared as if the people were simply sweeping a horrendous period under the carpet without acknowledging it as wrong. Herein lies the dilemma for many of Funder’s contacts: whether it is better to remember or to try and forget. Many of the people Funder talks to had buried their story but feel the pain resurface as they open up in their interview. Some, like Klaus, Herr Christian and Herr Bohnsack, seemed to have made peace with the past, and are open about their contrasting roles but are willing to move on. Many are still living in the past, some torn by the events and some longing for them to return. Frau Paul and Hagan Koch keep the past alive through museums and tours, each for their own reasons. Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler longs for the communist state to return, bitter at the socialist world in which he now lives. Miriam, like the puzzle women she hopes will discover a file about her husband Charlie, are in a constant state of repairing the damage caused under the Eastern State.

In many ways, Funder plays a part in the history as her portraits of the people and their past are instrumental in remembering. Her disdain at the tacky representation of history in the ‘Disney’ style museum with the recreated wall section indicate that she has a personal agenda to preserve a more genuine slice of history. One obstacle that is faced by all is that memory is malleable; it is open to be interpreted and edited both consciously and unintentionally. There are countless examples of forgetting in Stasiland where people overwrite and reconstruct the past. Funder observes this in her local neighbourhood, where streets are renamed to deny the area’s ‘socialist past’, and in the new ‘Ostalgie’, a nostalgic way some recall the Eastern State as if through rose-coloured glasses. The collective memory is also incomplete due to the extraordinary lengths the Stasi went to in order to destroy evidence as the revolution swept through East Germany. The problem with deliberately forgetting, as Funder sees it, is that it allows people to make themselves innocent of their past, both personal and collective. Herr Christian claims to be innocent of causing any real damage to the women and children he sent back from the border, just as von Schnitzler can claim that shooting of an escapee at the border was ‘an act of humanity‘. Funder’s concern at the collective view to forget is evident in her wonderment at how quickly the Wall went up and came down again, and notes Hagan Koch’s observation that it is hard to even tell where it was.

History Memory Forgetting Quotes

To remember or forget-which was healthier? To demolish it or to fence it off? To dig it up, or leave it lie in the ground? (About Hitler’s bunker – Funder’s thoughts about the past) Chapter 5

If I were Miriam and had told the most painful and formative parts of my life to someone, I’m not sure I’d want to see that person again either. (Funder) Chapter 8

Does telling your story mean you are free of it? Or that you go, unfettered, into your future. (Funder considering Miriam) Chapter 8

She was remembering as I watch, summoning presences more real than mine. ‘There are some things-‘ she stops. ‘I don’t think I’ll be able to remember this. I haven’t remembered this.’ (Julia) Chapter 11

I’m making portraits of people. East Germans, of whom there will be none left in a generation. And I’m painting a picture of a city on the old fault-line of east and west. This was working against forgetting, and against time. Chapter 14

Memory, like so much else, was unreliable. Not only for what it hides and what it alters, but also for what it reveals. Chapter 22

He had learned not to play the ‘if only’ game… (about Torsten) Chapter 23

I am annoyed that this past can look so tawdry and so safe, as if destined from the outset to end up behind glass, securely roped off and under press-button control. … Isn’t a museum the place for things that are over? Chapter 28

Power Manipulation

Funder represents the East German State as an authoritarian power that has seized control of its citizens through any means necessary. Although she interviews people who genuinely believed that the state was right in taking drastic steps to remain separate from Western influence, and even notes reports from people on the street who believe they were better off under communism, Funder’s premise is that the power exerted over the people cannot be justified. Through inclusion of stories that demonstrate heartache and pain, loss and grief, she shows that the use of power by the East, in particular the Stasi, was excessive and egregious.

The government’s source of power comes from a carefully orchestrated network of state police that rely heavily on propaganda and information collection through spies and informants. The East cut off its citizens from outside information when possible and this chasm of understanding could be filled with its own perspective and stories. This is demonstrated through the childhood memory of Hagan Koch, who remembers being told British and American planes were dropping beetles to eat Eastern German crops. The children gladly and unquestioningly collected these beetles and handed them in for treats. The suppression of Western music and the manufacture of the Lipsi dance, to hopefully replace the Western trends, is another example of propaganda. When the Western television could not be blocked, despite Stasi looking to see which way people’s antennas were pointing, a ‘Black Channel’ was set up to debrief citizens and ‘set them straight’ according to the communist worldview. Through the use of spies and informants, the government collected huge amounts of information into detailed files on its citizens, and used that information to pressure the citizens into conformity. In many cases, this meant finding a weak spot, such as a sick child, being leveraged against Frau Paul, an Italian boyfriend used against Julia, or a person’s past recalled such as Heinz Koch.

However, above all, the citizens were subjected to military control through brute physical force. While under the control of Erich Mielke, the Minister for State Security, and Erich Honecker, the Secretary-General, citizens were exposed to a combination of excessive authoritarian techniques. Mielke and Honecker were both Soviet-trained soldiers, and during their time in office they commanded powerful military force that included soldiers and the Stasi, the secret police and surveillance agency. Through the Stasi, anyone who openly opposed the East German state’s leaders or policies could be arrested, imprisoned, tortured, and executed. Charlie’s story, as recounted by Miriam, is an example of the abuses of totalitarian control. There was little chance of fighting the system legally, as the actions of the government were largely unaccountable. The East German powers also built the Berlin Wall in order to prevent citizens from escaping through West Germany (West Berlin) and arrested or shot those who tried to escape.

Power Manipulation Quotes

As the government controlled the newspapers, magazines and television, training as a journalist was effectively training as a government spokesperson. Chapter 2

‘It was silly. I stopped thinking I’d ever get out. They were playing with me like a mouse.’ (Miriam) Chapter 4

‘We are not immune from villains among us,’ he told a gathering of high-ranking Stasi officers in 1982. ‘If I knew of any already, they wouldn’t live past tomorrow.’ (Recalling of Mielke to the Stasi) Chapter 6

‘It has to do with how I can’t subject myself to any sort of authority. It’s now to the point where I can’t commit myself to coming anywhere on time.’ (Julia) Chapter 14

To start a new country, with new values and newly minted socialist citizens, it was necessary to begin at the beginning: with children. Chapter 16

I wonder how it worked inside the Stasi: who thought up these blackmail schemes? Did they send them up the line for approval? Did pieces of paper come back initialled and stamped ‘Approved’: the ruining of a marriage, the destruction of a career, the imprisonment of a wife, the abandonment of a child? Chapter 17

‘And then she said to us, “We are here to inform you today, that you don’t exist any more”.’ (Klaus recalls a woman from the committee about Klaus’ band) Chapter 19

Heroes and Traitors

Funder’s exploration into lives of those behind the Wall reveals the best and worst of human nature. Amongst those who conducted themselves dishonourably, some appear to have buckled to fear, some aligned themselves with those in power and some, driven by a personal goal, put themselves above others. When presented with the option to inform, citizens knew that refusal would place them under investigation, which could mean losing career opportunities and the imposition of extra surveillance, thus they often chose to be a part of the machine rather than fight the system. Others, like Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler, saw the State’s communist view as the only acceptable worldview and viewed any act against citizens as justified under this cause. Von Schnitzler’s view that shooting men and woman at the border was humane is an example of placing this ideology above the welfare of his fellow citizens. Others may have taken some delight in the opportunity to betray fellow citizens; Herr Bock of Golm, when asked why people became informers, said a few were convinced of the cause but, mainly, it was because ‘they felt they had it over other people’.

In contrast, there were some who stood bravely in the face of overwhelming adversity. Frau Paul and others were willing to try and escape and help others do likewise. When given the ultimatum of betraying a man for a chance to see her sick son, Frau Paul stood firm and chose not to cooperate. Miriam, who had been jailed for defiantly printing posters against the GDR, would later defiantly question officials in relation to her husband. Hagan Koch dared to steal a plastic plate from his office at his resignation that would be the centre of an almost humorous investigation. Julia herself stood up to Major N, turning the power structure against itself, by indicating she would not inform but that she would instead inform Major N’s superiors that he had crossed a line. In their day to day actions, some, like the Klaus Renft Combo musicians, bravely pushed forward, knowing they had pricked the curiosity of the Stasi and that their lives were under scrutiny and threat. Other chose love over submission, like two generations of the Koch family. Overall, Funder presents many individuals who bravely resisted and fought the system and the powers that caused others to submit.

Heroes and Traitors Quotes

‘Relations between people were conditioned by the fact that one or other of you could be one of them. Everyone suspected everyone else, and the mistrust this bred was the foundation of social existence.’ (Miriam explains why her story was unbelievable) Chapter 3

… it was all over, and people from east and west were climbing, crying, and dancing on the Wall. Chapter 6

The man looks uncomfortable, but he also shrugs as if to say, ‘it was just my job’. (Cemetery worker on video admits to leaving ovens on for Stasi to cremate bodies) Chapter 7

‘I conformed, just like everybody else. But it’s not true to say the GDR was a nation of seventeen million informers. They were only two in a hundred.’ (Cleaning lady at Stasi HQ) Chapter 7

Everyone, always, was claiming innocence here. Chapter 12

‘For anyone to understand a regime like the GDR, the stories of ordinary people must be told. Not just the activists or the famous writers.’ (Julia encourages Funder) Chapter 14

‘Me-bait in a trap for Michael! And of course that was an absolute no. I couldn’t.’ (Frau Paul) Chapter 22

Surveillance

Under the control of Erich Mielke and Erich Honecker, the Stasi monitored nearly all the citizens of East Germany. It did not matter if the citizens had done anything illegal, or posed a genuine threat to national security, the principle was that information was power and the more information the Stasi gathered the more power they had. This is evident in the way they wielded this information, as documented by Funder’s interviews of the people who sat in front of accusers who held their files. A prime example of this was knowing Frau Paul had a sick son, and the Stasi using this information to attempt to blackmail her. Likewise, the Stasi monitored its own members and promoted and demoted them based on gathered surveillance, such as when Hagan Koch’s career is threatened by the Stasi’s knowledge of his wife and a visit from his biological father. The violation of privacy was justified by those in power as protecting themselves against the people. The amount of surveillance is unimaginable in today’s world. Some estimates suggest that there used to be 100,000 Stasi employees running surveillance on the country, plus up to 200,000 informers. The Stasi collated millions of files on ordinary citizens that were eventually shredded or destroyed when the collapse of the regime seemed imminent. The destruction of files is seen as an admission of guilt by many. Funder notes that when accessing their files, many people are devastated by what they find, banging walls and weeping as they discover the depth of the Stasi’s violations of their right to privacy.

Surveillance Quotes

‘Relations between people were conditioned by the fact that one or other of you could be one of them. Everyone suspected everyone else, and the mistrust this bred was the foundation of social existence.’ (Miriam explains why her story was unbelievable) Chapter 3

‘Well, some of them were convinced of the cause,’ he says. ‘But I think it was mainly because informers got the feeling that, doing it, they were somebody. …. They felt they had it over other people.’ (Herr Bock) Chapter 20

Guilt

Klaus poses the idea to Funder that he thinks the Stasi have been punished enough. When he is pressed further, he admits: ‘Well, if they’ve got any conscience at all…’. Funder immediately considers many of the former Stasi men she has had conversations with and notes that they did not share feelings of guilt at all. Some, like Von Schnitzler, still declare their innocence and maintain they were in the right. In distinction to this, others, like Frau Paul, carry guilt over decisions they made under extenuating circumstances. As Miriam’s case would suggest, grief is not easy to overcome, and East Germans’ painful decisions and memories may haunt them for the rest of their lives. Under the unscrupulous regime, guilt appears to be sent among citizens like a cat among pigeons. Frau Paul, who says, ‘I did not make myself guilty’ when refusing to betray Michael Hinze is complimented by Michael himself, who says, ‘I don’t think I need to feel guilty-I don’t feel guilty’ about Frau Paul having chosen to help him over the opportunity to see her son. Both wrestle with guilt over decisions neither wanted to make. Even Funder is touched by vicarious guilt as she writes that she started to feel guilty about her own luck in life when compared with Julia.

Guilt Quotes

Everyone, always, was claiming innocence here. Chapter 12

‘I didn’t let them get to me.’ This, I think, was his victory. This was what stops him being bound to the past and carrying it around like a wound. (Klaus) Chapter 19

‘She’s a very courageous woman,’ Hinze continues, ‘I have a great deal of respect for her. I’m also grateful to her. But at the same time I don’t think I need to feel guilty … ‘. (Michael Hinze about Frau Paul) Chapter 23

‘I don’t want to be German any more!’ he sobs. ‘I don’t want to be German any more!’ His face was tracked with silver tears…. ‘We are terrible.’ (Man on street) Chapter 26