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Miriam Weber
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:
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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.
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Frau Paul Character Timeline in Stasiland
The timeline below shows where the character Frau Paul appears in Stasiland. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7: The Smell of Old Men
...about people who confronted Stasi leadership. The guide tells Funder that she should speak to Frau Paul . The guide then leads Funder through the rooms of the Stasi HQ. In a...
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Chapter 21: Frau Paul
Funder next goes to speak with Frau Paul , the woman whom the guide at the Stasi museum mentioned. Frau Paul turns out...
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Frau Paul gave birth to a child in early 1961, a boy named Torsten. The birth was...
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As time went on, Torsten remained in the hospital and his condition continued to deteriorate. Frau Paul and her husband decided to move to West Berlin, where they’d be able to get...
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Funder resumes describing her interview with Frau Paul . Frau Paul and her husband tried to do exactly what Michael Hinze had done:...
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Funder again resumes describing her interview with Frau Paul . In February 1963, the students asked Frau Paul if they could stay in her...
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Chapter 22: The Deal
...out of East Berlin with the help of his student friends, who were staying in Frau Paul ’s apartment. The plan was to wait for word from a courier, who would tell...
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Shortly afterwards, Frau Paul was arrested by the Stasi. They offered her a deal: she’d be allowed to be...
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Chapter 23: Hohenschönhausen
After the Stasi detained Frau Paul , she and her husband were imprisoned and then tried for collaborating against the authority...
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While Frau Paul was in prison, Torsten remained in the hospital in West Germany, barely surviving. Doctors remember...
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Frau Paul could now be with Torsten, and yet Torsten had no concept of life outside his...
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Chapter 26: The Wall
Funder reunites with Frau Paul , who’s been involved with organizing people who were persecuted in East Germany. Some people...
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