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Article: The horrors of the Stasi's East Germany.(Stasiland: True Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall)(After the Wall: Confessions from an East German Childhood and the Life That Came Next)(Book Review)
- Article from:
- Reason
- Article date:
- January 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Reason Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Stasiland: True Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall, by Anna Funder, London: Granta, 288 pages, $16.95
After the Wall: Confessions from an East German Childhood and the Life That Came Next, by, Fana Hensel, New York: Public Affairs, 180 pages, $24
LIKE ITS COUNTERPART in Moscow, East Germany's Ministry for State Security--better known by its sounds-like-Nazi nickname, Stasi--regarded itself as the sword and shield of the Communist Party. Of course, lots of extras in Ben Hut had swords and shields, too, and that did not make them formidable anywhere off the MGM back lot. As a foreign intelligence service, the Stasi made few penetrations outside West ...