The document discusses the oppressive surveillance state that existed in East Germany in 1984 under the Stasi secret police. It focuses on the story of Stasi officer Wiesler who is assigned to spy on playwright Dreyman, having his apartment bugged and monitored. Though initially a supporter of the regime, Dreyman becomes disillusioned with the lack of freedom and censorship. Wiesler also transforms as he sees the human toll of the extensive surveillance. The film depicts the human rights violations people faced under the authoritarian Communist state, including lack of privacy, freedom of thought and expression, and arbitrary detention.

1. DAS LEBEN DER ANDEREN
(The Lives Of Others) C:Usershp1DownloadsVideoTheLivesOfOthersTrailerHD.mp4
Monika
2011EME61
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University

2. • In 1984, East Berlin. The population of the GDR is kept under strict control, by the
Stasi, East German Secret Police.
• Its force of 100,000 employees, and 200,000 informants safeguards the dictatorship
of the proletariat. Its declared goal : “To know EVERYTHING “
• Stasi officer Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler is assigned to spy on playwright Georg
Dreyman. Wiesler and his team bug the apartment, set up surveillance equipment in
an attic and begin reporting Dreyman's activities.
• Dreyman had escaped state scrutiny due to his pro-Communist views and
international recognition.
Storyline

3. • Wiesler soon learns the real reason behind the surveillance: Minister of Culture
Bruno Hempf covets Dreyman's girlfriend, actress Christa-Maria Sieland, and is trying
to eliminate his rival.
• Though a loyal communist and supporter of the regime, Dreyman becomes
disillusioned with the treatment of his colleagues by the state. Weilser too, while
monitoring Dreyman, undergoes transformation and is disillusioned.
• Weisler helps Dreyman in publishing an article on Suicides in East Germany, by not
mentioning his activities in his surveillance reports.
• Dreyman, after the fall of Berlin Wall, discovers about Weisler, and thanks him by
writing a book dedicated to Gerd Weisler.
Storyline continued…

4. • Complete surveillance, denial of privacy.
• Censorship of anti-communist (anti-state) political views.
• Denial of movement out of East Germany to non-conformists.
• Arbitrary arrests and detention.
• Torture :
oSexual Exploitation
oIntellectual oppression
oMental torture
• No freedom of :
oThought
oExpression
oDevelopment of Personality
Human rights violations

5. •Statesmen/ bureaucracy favored practice
of laws.
•Unequal practice of laws for those in
power and those in not.
•No freedom to practice one’s job of
interest.
Human rights issues

6.  Article 3.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
 Article 9.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
 Article 12.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home
or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the
right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
 Article 18.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right
includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in
community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in
teaching, practice, worship and observance.
UDHR articles (Portrayed violations)

7.  Article 19.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes
freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
 Article 20.(2)
No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
 Article 22.
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to
realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance
with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural
rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
 Article 23.(1)
Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable
conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
UDHR articles continued…

8.  Article 27(2)
Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests
resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the
author.
 Article 29(2)
In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such
limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition
and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just
requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic
society.
UDHR articles continued (2)…..

9. Extra-ordinary Scene
• ..DownloadsVideoThe Lives Of Others (eng-subs) - 2 - Exposing Moral.mp4

10. • In words of Jerska ( a char from the movie, director ,
blacklisted by the Govt.)
“ What is a director if he can’t direct?
He is a projectionist without a film, a miler without corn.
He is nothing. Nothing at all.”
• By oppressing a person’s intellect and expression, the
person is killed inside. Only the body remains. The dead
mind easily ends the life of the body.
Conclusion

11. • The oppression of mind is as fatal as the
choking/smothering of breath.
• Mental torture is worse than physical.
• When a person’s thoughts are censored, what they are
forced to wager is their talent, their very lives, even their
souls.
Conclusion continued…

12. • A life so intensely monitored, is the same as life in prison.
• By controlling the activities of the writers/artists ( who act as
spokes persons of the citizens), the state can control the thoughts
of the entire nation.
• By censoring the right to question the state, the state achieves
complete oppression. The motto of the state shifts to the welfare
of the powerful from the common good.
• When invested with ultimate authority, the states-men do what
pleases them, and all in the name of common good
Conclusion continued… 2

13. THANK YOU
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