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The Plastic Plate
The Stasi surveillance apparatus kept detailed files on a staggering number of East German citizens, and in the final days of East Germany, the Stasi were tasked with shredding these files. After much debate, the German state now allows German citizens to look at their own personal files—but first, the files have to be painstakingly reassembled. The shredded files—which, it’s been estimated, will take more than four centuries to reassemble by hand—symbolize the legacy of the Stasi force and the East German surveillance state. These files contain a huge amount of information about German people, some of it disturbing or painful. Throughout the book, Funder questions what will be accomplished by reassembling the shredded documents—in effect, asking what is the purpose of studying history and reliving the past.
Shredded Documents Quotes in Stasiland
The Stasiland quotes below all refer to the symbol of Shredded Documents. 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 7 Quotes
It was a close call, but Germany was the only Eastern Bloc country in the end that so bravely, so conscientiously, opened its files on its people to its people.
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After the reunification of Germany, there were still many ethical problems to address. In particular, there was a lively debate over what should be done with the millions of shredded pages of surveillance files on German citizens. Some believed that these shredded files should be destroyed permanently, since they should never have been created in the first place. Others argued, successfully, that individual German citizens should be permitted to read their own private files, now that these files did exist. While the German government’s actions are commendable, Funder questions whether any ethical purpose can be served by showing people the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus volup
Chapter 27 Quotes
He is telling me, in his quiet way, that the resources united Germany is throwing at this part of reconstructing the lives of its former East German citizens are pitiful, some kind of Sisyphean joke. What he is running here is an almost totally symbolic act.
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In Chapter 27, Funder visits the official Stasi record center, in which a small team of workers painstakingly tries to reassemble the untold millions of pages of shredded documents that the Stasi left behind in 1989. The German government has mandated that the files be reassembled and returned to the people they concern; however, the files are being reassembled so slowly that many people will die before they ever get a chance to read their own files. Clearly, the government could allocate more money to speed the process up, but they don’t—the reassembling of files is almost strictly a symbolic Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque
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Shredded Documents Symbol Timeline in Stasiland
The timeline below shows where the symbol Shredded Documents appears in Stasiland. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2: Miriam
...German viewer regarding the famous “puzzle women”—women who try to reassemble the files the Stasi shredded in their final days. The viewer explains that he wants to do a story on...
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Chapter 7: The Smell of Old Men
...could incriminate the Stasi in criminal behavior. For days on end, Stasi employees burned or shredded incriminating documents. The guard, who has been describing the history of the fall of East...
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Chapter 27: Puzzlers
...since 1995. There, dozens of people—and not, contrary to rumor, strictly women—are paid to reassemble shredded documents. Computers could, in theory, do the work, but, according to Raillard, these wouldn’t count...
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...Funder calculations suggesting that it would take 40 people nearly 400 years to reassemble the shredded documents—and there are only 31 people in the office. Funder is stunned. She thinks about...
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