Stasiland

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East Germany is a mysterious environment, created by the yearning to camouflage into the greyness of ones surroundings. Intense control limits a human’s capacity to think, without ownership over your thoughts - determining a future and making sense of a tainted and oppressive environment can become paralysing. Therefore, throughout East Germany a truth did not exist as fear had given people the inability to formulate opinions to their full extent. Everyone had an idea as to what had occurred as their minds continued to play the scenarios on repeat - if a recognisable lifestyle disappears it is possible that you will recreate the only life you knew due to the sense of uncertainty present towards existence in an unfamiliar environment. An outsiders view was necessary, Funder recognised the uncertainty people had when attempting to blame a perpetrator, as the Stasi were indeed victims of the regime - causing the truth to become compromised and therefore hidden (alike to how the world was hidden behind a wall).

The similarity existent between the past and the present in “Stasiland” is what empowers Funder to obtain a sense of truth, she intends to provide the necessary knowledge to the outside world enabling readers to realise the reality of East Germany. Funder undergoes her purpose with caution, as in respect of her interviewers she must consider the effects associated with revealing the truth and the past – as it has the potential to significantly harm the health of ones mental state. When envisaging the impact her background has in terms of perspective Funders intention becomes clear. Instead of finalising a truth she provides the readers with the necessary factors and interpretations - as once actuality is discovered and final...

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... sense of certainty (due to the inclusion of maps, facts and statistics) exhibits how Funder attempts to reveal her version of experience. Based on the usefulness of considering how East Germany affected an outsider and her conclusions built due to the appearance of the area to someone that was distant from the occurrences, the persistence in relation to the way she told the truth is revealed. If Funder was specifically identify the wholeness of her truth (which she does not attempt to do as she is aware there are aspects missed that can contribute to her truth) then it is finalised and as readers we have a limited ability to rearrange and influence the actuality. This is not what “Stasiland” contends, instead it is the blueprint for the outside world to make a reality of East Germany and therefore consider the past as a worthy component to determining the future.

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