Herr Christian

Funder includes the story of Herr Christian, a former Stasi man who now works as a private detective, as an example of a person who, for whatever reason, has escaped the GDR relatively emotionally unscathed. Funder’s representation of Herr Christian is rather neutral, much like the man himself. He is a man who is mostly untroubled by the morality of his actions, rather, he places his trust in those higher up the command chain to make such judgments, as he tells her “I’ve always had an acute sense of duty to obey the law... and I thought it was the right thing to do.” Although he did have some small moral qualms with the nature of his job uncovering East Germans attempting to smuggle themselves to the west, he was able to quash these through his trust in the ability of lawmakers to do what is just, and through his own enjoyment of the disguises he would wear.