Stasiland
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Stasiland is a 2003 book by Melbourne author Anna Funder. It is a factual account of the personal histories of a number of people who lived in the former German Democratic Republic, and their experiences with respect to the state's secret police, the Stasi. Funder's motivation was to investigate whether the criticism of former "Ossis" by their western counterparts (that they should have stood up to the regime) was justified. In the process of researching the book, Funder spoke with both ordinary people who fell prey to the system, and those working within it, including the notorious propagandist Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler.
Stasiland won the 2004 Samuel Johnson Prize.

