num_pages: 328
description: In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell; shortly afterwards the two Germanies reunited, and East Germany ceased to exist. In a country where the headquarters of the secret police can become a museum literally overnight, and one in 50 East Germans were informing on their countrymen and women, there are a thousand stories just waiting to get out. Anna Funder tells extraordinary tales from the underbelly of the former East Germany - she meets Miriam, who as a 16-year-old might have started World War III, visits the man who painted the line which became the Berlin Wall and gets drunk with the legendary 'Mik Jegger' of the East, once declared by the authorities to his face to 'no longer to exist'. Written with wit and literary flair, Stasiland provides a rivetting insight into life behind the wall.
language: English
title: Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall
titlecomplete: Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall
genres: Historical, History, Travel, European History, Germany, German Literature, Biography, Memoir, Nonfiction, Politics
ratings_count: 17472
places: Berlin Wall, Germany, Berlin, East Berlin, East Germany
awards: awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Guardian First Book Award, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction
publisher: Granta