Summary of Anna Funder's Stasiland

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 I catch the underground to Leipzig, a couple of hours from Berlin. It’s snowing outside. I move through the slush to where I know there are toilets. The large woman in a purple apron and loud makeup at the bottom of the steps is guarding her stash of condoms and tissues and tampons.

#2 I can’t smell anything anymore. The train travels through northern Germany, and I can feel myself falling asleep. I remember my mother’s moustache in the sun, my adolescent hunger, and the burnt chalk smell of tram brakes in summer.

#3 I visited Leipzig in 1994, five years after the Wall fell in November 1989. I was looking for the Stasi museum, which had formerly been the Stasi offices. The Stasi was the internal army by which the government kept control. It knew everything about everyone, using any means it chose.

#4 I visited the Runden Ecke, the area where the Stasi headquarters was located. The citizens’ committee that was in charge of the museum had mounted displays on cheap particleboard screens. There were pictures of protesters occupying the building on December 4, 1989.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822529427

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Anna Funder's Stasiland

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 14

Insights from Chapter 15

Insights from Chapter 16

Insights from Chapter 17

Insights from Chapter 18

Insights from Chapter 19

Insights from Chapter 20

Insights from Chapter 21

Insights from Chapter 22

Insights from Chapter 23

Insights from Chapter 24

Insights from Chapter 25

Insights from Chapter 26

Insights from Chapter 27

Insights from Chapter 28

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

I catch the underground to Leipzig, a couple of hours from Berlin. It’s snowing outside. I move through the slush to where I know there are toilets. The large woman in a purple apron and loud makeup at the bottom of the steps is guarding her stash of condoms and tissues and tampons.

#2

I can’t smell anything anymore. The train travels through northern Germany, and I can feel myself falling asleep. I remember my mother’s moustache in the sun, my adolescent hunger, and the burnt chalk smell of tram brakes in summer.

#3

I visited Leipzig in 1994, five years after the Wall fell in November 1989. I was looking for the Stasi museum, which had formerly been the Stasi offices. The Stasi was the internal army by which the government kept control. It knew everything about everyone, using any means it chose.

#4

I visited the Runden Ecke, the area where the Stasi headquarters was located. The citizens’ committee that was in charge of the museum had mounted displays on cheap particleboard screens. There were pictures of protesters occupying the building on December 4, 1989.

#5

The Stasi had developed a quasi-scientific method called smell sampling to find criminals. The theory was that we all have our own identifying odor, which we leave on everything we touch. The Stasi would take its dogs and jars to a location where they suspected an illegal meeting had occurred, and see if the dogs could pick up the scents of the people whose essences were