The Lives of Others

Monday, October 26^th

On Monday of this week I was required to lead class discussion regarding the German film; The Lives of Others. I was pleased to lead discussion this week because this film is one of my personal favorites. The Lives of Others tells the story of a German playwright living in East Germany and his secret writing and publishing of an essay about the skyrocketing suicide rate in the GDR. The main character Dreymann is unknowingly spied on constantly, via the bugging of his apartment, by a benevolent Stasi agent who decides not to report his offenses against the state to his Stasi superiors and thus saves Dreymann from imprisonment. It is not until the end of the GDR and indeed the end of the film that Dreymann discovers that he had been under intense surveillance for the duration of his conspiracy to writing the essay.

This image of a highly secretive and effective Stasi, which infiltrates and manipulates the lives of citizens, is far different from that depicted in Christa Wolf’s, What Remains. Once an informer herself, Wolf is familiar with the tactics used by the Stasi as well as those tactics which can protect her from further trouble with the GDR state, such as speaking in code when talking on the telephone. Unlike Dreymann who is ignorant of his being under surveillance, Wolf is fully aware of the three Stasi men in the car which is constantly parked in front of her house. Dreymann continues with his life and conspiracy thinking that his flat is the only safe place in the GDR where he can talk freely with his friends, while Wolf changes every aspect of her life in order to protect herself from the Stasi informers and spies placed all around her. Just like The Lives of Others, stories of the Stasi and its more or less secret operations make for a good story, however, first-hand accounts like Wolf’s really hit home reminding us that the Stasi was a very real institution which operated in East Germany’s recent past and effectively ruined lives.