Hagen Koch is described by Funder as the “Socialist Man” due to his childhood immersion in the GDR’s efforts to indoctrinate children to blindly and obediently follow Socialism. He emphasises the importance of his childhood where “the GDR was like a religion” in shaping his actions as a member of the Stasi in later years in the retelling of his story to Funder, suggesting that he feels some level of personal guilt about his function in the GDR. Koch is also significant due to his ties with the symbolism of the Wall; he was the man who literally mapped out the division between west and east as Honecker’s personal cartographer, and now he perhaps seeks in part atonement for the damage he has helped caused – “the Wall is the thing that defined him, and he will not let it go.”
