STASILAND CHARACTER QUOTES Flashcards
Herr Bohnsack
“The only Stasi man I have ever met who outed himself.” (FUNDER about HERR BOHNSACK)
Karl-Eduard Von Schnitzler
“the media face of the regime. ‘The Black Chanel’ aired until the very end in October 1989.”
“the most hated face of the regime.”
Hagen Koch
drew the line, divorce papers in jail
wanted to leave stasi, was arrested for possession of pornographic material (false), wife forced to sign divorce papers—> Koch shown these papers was furious at his wife for “betraying” him and rejoined the force,, MANIPULATION
“It shine like gold but it was made of plastic, covered in metallic paint like a cheap toy.” (about the plate he stole, represents the lies of the GDR)
“One must not see things from one side.”
“that plate as all I had the courage for.” (rebellion, bravery)… the plate was stolen from his stasi unit which had won it for its “cultural work”
Herr Winz
still obsessed
“Authoritative barks” (how he speaks)
“the excellent work - the masterful work - of the Stasi in counter-espionage” (socialism fanatics)
“combat the lies and misinterpretation in the western media” (what he describes that the ‘Insiderkomitee’ does; the group of ex-stasimen)
Herr bock
now a business adviser for people from the west who have businesses in the east
“He is enjoying himself, here in the dark”
“Science of recruiting informers”
“His feet, in socks and sandals, barely touch the floor”
Herr Christian
now a private investigator
“He has a sense of fun about what he did with the Stasi”
“I’ve always had am acute sense of duty to obey the law … I thought it was the right thing to do”
“I am … a stickler for the law”
Julia
Funder describes her as “a woman … only part-attached to the world”
“Julia Behrend had fallen into the gap between the GDR’s fiction ad it’s reality”
“She would not become an informer”
“our own country was feeding us lies and that our futures depended on seeming to agree with it all.”
“I can’t subject myself to any sort of authority.”
“unable to go forward into her future.”
Miriam Weber
“I became … an Enemy of the State at sixteen”
“When I got out of prison I was basically no longer human.”
“placed in solitary confinement for a month.”
“sleep deprivation.”
“your activities could have started World War III.”
Klaus Renft
“I think the Stasi people have been punished enough … Well, if they’ve got any conscience at all.” - Klaus (can be linked to guardians)
“You no longer exist.” - stasi told Klaus
“Lyrics suggested rebellion, poignancy and hope.”
His band ‘Klaus Renft Combo’ was “authentic and unauthorised.”
Frau Paul
“It was illegal, but everyone did it.” - Frau Paul about listening to Western radio (rebellion)
“They made our boy a stranger to us.”
“She seems wobbly, a woman holding onto notes on her own life.”
“Her baby was now on the other side of the Wall.”
“It is part bravery, like the bravery that made her refuse the Stasi deal, and it is part, perhaps, obsession, caused by what they did to her after that.” (Funder about Paul retelling the story, RESILLIENCE)
Anna Funder
funders method of interviewing:
“I want to ask but I sit tight.”
“To listen to her is to witness the process, almost mechanical, of pulling things up from the past.”
“Does telling your story mean you are free of it? Or that you go, fettered, into your future?”
