Stasiland

by

Anna Funder

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Stasiland makes teaching easy.
Frau Paul is another woman to whom Anna Funder speaks during her time in Berlin in the 1990s. Paul witnessed the rise of the East German state following the fall of the Third Reich, and in 1961, the same year that the Berlin Wall was built, she gave birth to a child named Torsten. Torsten was rushed to a West Berlin hospital, and Paul was separated from her baby for years. During this time, she tried and failed to sneak under the Wall, and when the Stasi offered to reunite her with her child if she informed on her friends, she refused. Paul therefore stands as a symbol of defiance—she’s one of the few people in the book who directly stood up to the Stasi. However, as Funder points out, Paul has lived with the pain of her decision for many decades, and like so many “brave” people, she summons the will to be brave because she doesn’t fully consider the pain she’s causing herself in doing so.

Frau Paul Quotes in Stasiland

The Stasiland quotes below are all either spoken by Frau Paul or refer to Frau Paul. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Authoritarianism and the East German State Theme Icon
).
Chapter 22 Quotes

It seems to me that Frau Paul, as one does, may have overestimated her own strength, her resistance to damage, and that she is now, for her principles, a lonely, teary guilt-wracked wreck.

Related Characters: Anna Funder (speaker), Frau Paul
Page Number: 221
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Stasiland LitChart as a printable PDF.
Stasiland PDF

Frau Paul Quotes in Stasiland

The Stasiland quotes below are all either spoken by Frau Paul or refer to Frau Paul. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Authoritarianism and the East German State Theme Icon
).
Chapter 22 Quotes

It seems to me that Frau Paul, as one does, may have overestimated her own strength, her resistance to damage, and that she is now, for her principles, a lonely, teary guilt-wracked wreck.

Related Characters: Anna Funder (speaker), Frau Paul
Page Number: 221
Explanation and Analysis: