Representation and Memory
How Isabel on the Stairs and The Lives of Others Shape Contemporary Memory of East Germany
Maia Sheridan
Abstract
This essay analyzes the representations of East Germany in the films Isabel on the Stairs (Isabel auf der Treppe, 1984) and The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen, 2006) and their subsequent impact on cultural memory. Made while the Berlin Wall still stood, Isabel on the Stairs reflects the experiences of authentic East German voices and experiences, while also propagating state-sponsored messages that emphasize solidarity and humanism in the midst of difference. The Lives of Others is a high-budget, transnational film that depicts East Germany solely as a time of suffering and persecution. The film displays characteristics of cultural heritage cinema and attempts to actively influence viewers’ perception of the past through catharsis. While Isabel on the Stairs represents filmmaking defined by national and cultural specificities, The Lives of Others reflects a widespread shift towards transnational filmmaking designed for global appeal, oftentimes effacing marginalized voices. By exploring the filmmakers’ differing contexts and motivations, this paper seeks to underscore the unequal accessibility and awareness of East German perspectives in the face of contemporary Western culture narratives.
“Movies […] change the way we see things. […] [They] are the memories of our lifetime.”
- Martin Scorsese
Renowned filmmaker Martin Scorsese’s words ring especially true when it comes to films depicting history. Film’s power to influence audiences plays an important role in shaping how societies and people remember the past. Many viewers base their understanding of historical events and figures on these cinematic portrayals, which often reach broader audiences than books or articles based on the same narratives. As the famous film critic Roger Ebert described in 2005, films are “empathy machines,” enabling viewers to connect emotionally with characters, events, and places. Whether experienced in the darkness of a movie theater or lit by a phone’s LED screen, audiences are immersed in stories they watch. Through elaborate camera techniques, sharp dialogue, evocative music, and detailed set pieces, films create an emotional familiarity with the people and societies they depict. As a result, the creative choices and perspectives of filmmakers hold considerable power in shaping contemporary memories of history.
One of the most important historical developments of the 20th century was the formation of the Berlin Wall, which stood for twenty-eight years and divided East Germany from West Germany. In classrooms, films are often used to compliment student understandings of this time period. Two such films that represent and remember East Germany are Isabel on the Stairs (Isabel auf der Treppe) and The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen). Isabel on the Stairs, directed by Hannelore Unterberg in 1984, follows the lives of Isabel and Rosita Perez (played by Irina Gallardo and Teresa Polle, respectively), two Chilean refugees in East Germany, as they navigate cultural differences and feelings of displacement. The Lives of Others (2006), directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, follows Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler (played by Ulrich Mühe) as he develops conflicting loyalties throughout his surveillance of playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) and his actress girlfriend Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck). Although they share the same setting, the films paint two vastly different portraits of East German society. This not only emphasizes the respective filmmakers’ unique contexts, but also the larger political and social motivations at play in these works. While Unterberg’s film is a product of a bygone era of Socialist state sponsored filmmaking defined by a national and cultural agenda, von Donnersmarck’s work sacrifices cultural distinctiveness and historical accuracy in an effort to appeal to a global capitalist society. As a product of divided Berlin, Isabel on the Stairs offers unique insight as a perspective of the GDR rooted in its specific historical period, while The Lives of Others is a commercial product designed to perpetuate a western memory of life in East Germany. A nuanced understanding of the East German experiment in Cold War Germany must account not only for a narrative retrospectively imposed by outsiders, but must include the often overlooked perspectives from behind the Wall itself.
Both films serve as filmic representations of history, but their distinct narrative structure and tonality result in two contrasting versions of the cultural memory surrounding East Germany. Cultural memory, as defined by Jan Assmann in “Collective Memory and Cultural Identity,” shapes the self-image and history of a group based on collective experiences (129). Assmann draws a clear distinction between cultural memory and what he terms communicative memory. The latter includes everyday conversations, jokes, and shared experiences among individuals, continually evolving in its forms and understandings. In contrast, cultural memory is visible through enduring symbols and institutions such as museums, libraries, art, places of worship, universities, etc., “whose ‘cultivation’ serves to stabilize and convey that society's self-image” (132). Collective knowledge, beliefs, and practices of a society are transmitted across generations through these various cultural artifacts, allowing the essence of a community to be felt through history. When thinking about cultural memory within Assman’s contextual framework, it is important to distinguish that East Germany as a nation-state no longer exists. As a result, its cultural memory is formed by the former citizens of East Germany, West Germany, and those born after the fall of the wall. When viewing Unterberg and von Donnersmarck’s films today, modern audiences, influenced by the content and messaging of the films, imagine and impose their own cultural memories onto East Germany of the past.
Unlike The Lives of Others, which is a retrospective period piece intent on imposing a specific cultural memory of East Germany onto viewers, Unterberg’s film was not made with the goal of creating a collective memory of East Germany for future generations, but rather influencing East Germans at the time of production. Produced by East Germans for East Germans, the “self-image” of Isabel on the Stairs takes a humanistic approach and emphasizes unity amid differences, evident in its lighter tone, colors, dialogue, and absence of heavy musical scoring. Produced while the Berlin Wall still stood, the story reflects the personal experiences of real East German citizens and Chilean refugees, such as actresses Teresa Polle (Rosita Perez) and Irina Baez (Isabel Perez), enriching the production with authentic perspectives.
Viewed by a contemporary audience, Unterberg’s version of East Germany fosters a positive cultural memory, who remember it as a time of solidarity and community amongst citizens. The film’s first scene effectively illustrates this concept. The film opens with a medium pan shot of the Kunze family’s round dinner table, set with colorful flowers and lit candles. Margot Kunze (Jenny Gröllmann) and Rosita Perez, both wearing purple, watch amusingly as their children, Philipp (Mario Krüger) and Isabel respectively, laugh and play together, regardless of the language barrier that separates them. As they begin to eat, Dieter Kunze (Jaecki Schwarz) uses a German-Spanish dictionary to communicate with Rosita and her daughter. The circular dinner table, along with the matching color of Margot and Rosita’s wardrobe, emphasize unity and equality. This opening scene immediately underscores the film's thematic focus, highlighting the values of community and solidarity prevalent in East German society.
The film’s overarching storyline and message also represent these values. The narrative revolves around the relationships between Isabel, Rosita, and their East German neighbors, offering a poignant exploration of cultural connections and societal hurdles. Unterberg dissects this relationship via Isabel and Philipp’s friendship. Throughout the film, they are increasingly seen playing together, talking, and connecting despite their different backgrounds and families. Conversely, as the film progresses, Rosita’s relationship with East German society and with Margot falters. One scene depicts Rosita passionately singing a traditional Chilean song at the local school. The students and faculty quickly become bored, uninspired by Rosita’s heartfelt performance. Sensing their rejection and disinterest in her heritage, she runs off stage, humiliated and vulnerable. The school’s disingenuous inclusion serves as a stark contrast to Isabel and Philipp’s authentic connection, and raises a critique of East German society.
Furthermore, Unterberg utilizes the character of Opa Kunze (Horst Hiemer) as a mediating figure between the two cultures, whose steadfast support for Rosita and her daughter reflects his genuine commitment to fostering inclusivity and understanding. In one scene, he attends a Chilean gathering and actively participates in Chilean song, dance, and cuisine, unlike the school children and faculty earlier in the film. Unterberg, and as an extension, the East German state, sends a clear message against disingenuous activism and displays of inclusion in East German society, instead calling for a whole-hearted and holistic incorporation of Chilean refugees.
In contrast, The Lives of Others presents East Germany as a time of suffering and persecution, and represents a shift towards German cultural heritage cinema. In her book German Cinema in the Age of Neoliberalism, Hester Baer cites Lutz Koepnick’s work regarding the genesis of this cinematic subgenre, which came into prominence during the late 1990s. Characterized by high production values, these historical films employ the past to grapple with evolving conceptions of memory in the present day (Baer 85). These films are formed of “conciliatory narratives that ‘present the texture of the past as a source of visual attractions and pleasures,’ repackaging history as an object of mass identification and consumption” (85). Unlike other period films, heritage films are actively involved in influencing history for the sake of commercial ventures (85). Consequently, The Lives of Others employs a narrative structure centered around a historical inaccuracy to facilitate emotional catharsis and strategic thematic messaging that resonates with a larger, international audience.
One example of this creative liberty is halfway through the film, when Wiesler sneaks into Dreyman’s apartment after an unsatisfactory encounter with a prostitute. With a dramatic and emotional score playing throughout, Wiesler ambles through the rooms with his hands in his pockets, stopping to stare at a pen on Dreyman’s desk, which was gifted to him for his birthday. He enters the bedroom, gently touching the edge of the bed in a contemplative manner, and the camera lingers in several close ups on his face. A couple minutes later in the film, Wiesler is shown reading a book by Bertolt Brecht, famous German playwright and poet, that he took from the apartment. The scene again employs soaring music and begins in a close up, slowly moving out as Wiesler’s voice-over narration reads from the book. These scenes represent the beginning of Wiesler’s character arc as he discovers the beauty and power of the art and ideals he has been instructed to suppress. The pen on Dreyman’s desk, along with the Brecht book, act as symbols of the Western world, presented as glorified relics of a society crushed by the East German state. With these scenes, von Donnersmarck utilizes melodramatic filmmaking techniques, such as the musical score, narration, and elaborate camera movements, to emphasize Wiesler’s loneliness and dissatisfaction, thereby inducing emotion in the viewer. Although there is no recorded evidence of a Stasi officer defying orders to save their assigned targets from imprisonment, the character of Wiesler goes on to defy his training and take action to prevent Dreyman’s arrest.
However, despite this central historical transgression, von Donnersmarck posited his film as an unprecedented realistic view of East German society. In her article “‘Truer than the Real Thing’: ‘Real’ and ‘Hyperreal’ Representations of the Past in Das Leben Der Anderen,” Wendy Westphal explains that the director “wants the spectator to completely accept the reality of the film, and for this reason even eliminates the opening credits. In the audio commentary to the North American DVD he explains that the credits would ‘remind you that this is just a film. And I want you to believe it is reality’” (102). Thus emerges a severe contradiction between the filmmakers’ intentions and the reality of the past. The filmmakers use a central departure from historical fact in order to assert their view of East Germany as an oppressive time for citizens and authority figures alike, thereby affecting modern understandings of the cultural memory surrounding East Germany.
While historical inaccuracies are common in films that reinterpret the past, they become problematic when a film seeks to mislead viewers into accepting its version of events as absolute truth. Both Isabel on the Stairs and The Lives of Others contain historical inaccuracies and dramatized elements that serve to buttress their messaging. However, the two films differ significantly in their transparency about the balance between truth and fiction. Founded in 1946, DEFA was a state-operated film studio in East Germany. The studio produced and released films throughout the country’s history until 1992, post-Wende (DEFA Film Library History). As a state-sponsored DEFA production, Isabel on the Stairs dramatizes aspects of East German society and culture to advance its propagandistic message, emphasizing the state’s humanism and acceptance of diversity. These dramatizations highlight a transnational and inclusive society while portraying East Germany as a powerful model of progress and unity. However, the film openly signals its fictional and allegorical nature through surrealist elements, dream sequences, and overt markers like opening credits and DEFA branding in the first and last frames of the film, ensuring viewers recognize it as a constructed narrative rather than historical truth. On the other hand, The Lives of Others deliberately seeks to convince viewers that it presents the definitive truth about life in East Germany. In von Donnersmarck’s film, these historical liberties bear greater significance compared to other period films, such as Unterberg’s. In the article “Stasiploitation: Why Not? The Scriptwriter’s Historical Creativity in ‘The Lives of Others,’” Thomas Lindenberger states that for von Donnersmarck’s film, “‘authenticity’ matters in a particular way, insofar as the claim to achieve it was crucial for its successful marketing” (558). The film's emphasis on alleged historical accuracy was not only intended to reinforce the perception of East Germany as a repressive state but also to enhance its market appeal and critical success. While its inaccuracies reveal the influence of transnational and Western perspectives, the film ultimately advances a nationalistic agenda, framing East German society through a rigid moral lens of right and wrong based in Western principles.
It is clear that despite sharing the same setting and focus on dissecting East German society, The Lives of Others and Isabel on the Stairs vary greatly in their tone, look, messaging, and narrative. When viewing these films today, these stark differences create two opposing cultural memories surrounding the former nation-state. In order to better understand why and how these different memories came about, it is essential to delve into the differing contexts and influences that shaped their filmmakers’ perspectives, and how this affects contemporary notions of East Germany.
As a DEFA film, Isabel on the Stairs was especially designed to perpetuate state-sponsored messages during the time of the GDR. Specifically for this film, DEFA was motivated by the East German political campaign that emphasized solidarity with Chilean refugees. In her article “An East German Chile in Bulgaria: notions of longing and displacement,” Claudia Sandberg states that “DEFA dramaturgs amended scripts and ideas handed in by Chilean artists to make sure that they aligned with the East German meta-narrative, interpretation of historical events, symbols, metaphors and figures.” Due to this sponsorship and influence, the film pushes outrightly positive messages about the East German regime to audiences, most obviously through Opa Kunze, who instructs Dieter “to take care of” Rosita, who has felt isolated by her neighbors and community (Unterberg 1:00:30). This dialogue unmistakably conveys the film's message, offering insights into the direct influences steering its production, including those from the East German government.
Though less overt, The Lives of Others was equally shaped by external influences, specifically, Western ideals. Unlike DEFA or New German Cinema films, Eichinger’s production “co-opt[s] the forms of countercinema for commercial purposes” (Baer 83). The film, financed by Buena Vista, a distributor of the Walt Disney corporation, favors a commercialized, Western view of the events in East Germany. The film fuses components of traditional German arthouse filmmaking, as well as motifs present in New German Cinema, with the style of high-budget Hollywood blockbusters (83). This “Hollywood-ification” of mainstream German filmmaking is evident in director von Donnersmarck's stated endorsements of American blockbusters like Back to the Future and Groundhog Day, citing them as major artistic influences (115). These influences subtly permeate the film, evident in the narrative dichotomy between the socialist state and the triumphant capitalistic society, symbolized by Weisler’s purchase of Dreyman's book at the end of the film. References to famous Western works of art further underscore this dynamic, as seen with “Sonata for Good Man,” composed by Gabriel Yared for the film and inspired by Beethoven’s “Appassionata,” a favorite piece of Lenin's (118). Dreyman's question after playing the sonata on the piano, “Can a person who has heard this music—I mean, really heard this music—still be a bad person?”, contributes to the glorification of Western ideals and their perceived power to lift people out of oppressive ideologies, such as those imposed by the East German State (von Donnersmarck 54:35). As described by Westphal, “the plot of Das Leben der Anderen depicts not truth, but rather a moral ideal draped with the trappings of reality” (102). Informed by Western and commercial influences, von Donnersmarck effectively combines symbolic and emotional techniques with narrative and historical elements, creating a film that engages audiences on intellectual and emotional levels, shaping their historical understanding and cultural memory of East Germany.
These artistic and ideological influences shape the contemporary legacies of the films, and thus modern perceptions of East Germany. Isabel on the Stairs stands as a relic of localized, national cinema, a filmmaking approach less common in today's globalized and essentially borderless film industry. Informed by guidelines from DEFA and tailored for a specific audience by a specific audience, the film represents a highly personalized cinematic endeavor. The film’s modern legacy paints a picture of a flawed, yet diverse East Germany whose transnationalism serves to uplift its values and priorities. The film generates a sense of intimacy and authenticity, not only by involving actual Chilean refugees and East German citizens, but also due to its role as a “primary source” from the time of the GDR.
Unlike Isabel on the Stairs, The Lives of Others’ spatial and temporal distance from the film’s historical setting is a vital aspect of understanding the film’s role in shaping cultural memory surrounding East Germany. Produced years after the fall of the Wall by non-East German filmmakers, von Donnersmarck’s film lacks the cultural and historical authenticity that Unterberg’s film possesses. In order to gain sway with audiences, the film draws on the historical context of its own production to evoke familiarity, much like Isabel on the Stairs, which derives its cultural authority from its unique position as a film made behind the Wall. Produced at the height of the Ostalgie movement, a cinematic wave nostalgic for aspects of East German life, von Donnersmarck strategically capitalized on the film’s inevitable resonance (Baer 115). By appropriating popular Ostalgie themes, the filmmakers simultaneously ensured both critical acclaim and high profits, without having to commit to providing a nuanced perspective of life behind the Wall.
In addition, the film references familiar motifs of New German Cinema and countercinema in order to enhance its resonance with viewers. One example of this is the film’s references to the works of Brecht. One of Brecht’s famous theories is the alienation effect, a tool used heavily in classics of New German Cinema, such as Ali: Fear Eats the Soul by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. As described by Brecht in his essay “The Street Scene: A Basic Model for an Epic Theater,” the alienation effect places a critical distance between the audience and the piece (4). In films, this can be achieved by stage-like blocking and cinematography, non-emotional performances by the actors, or breaking the fourth wall, among other means. These techniques encourage viewers to engage critically with the content rather than becoming absorbed in its emotional elements. However, in The Lives of Others, scenes referencing Brecht—such as Wiesler reading a collection of Brecht’s plays—achieve the very opposite effect. Through closeups, overlaid music, and a deeply emotional performance, the film invites viewers to connect emotionally with the scene instead of critically. Ultimately, the film presents a contradiction, simultaneously glorifying Western sensibilities while appropriating countercinema techniques, including the alienation effect, in ways that subvert their original intent. Von Donnersmarck’s performative use of Ostalgie themes and elements of New German Cinema attracts audiences with familiar motifs in an attempt to lend the film an air of authenticity that it lacks as a retrospective period piece, and thus accept the film’s view of East Germany.
As a result, the voices of real-life East German citizens are rendered peripheral in the narrative of von Donnersmarck’s hugely popular film that dominates modern-day understandings of East Germany. This sharp break from traditional German filmmaking tropes in favor of a commercialized imperative falls in line with the facets of cinema of consensus, defined by Eric Rentschler as a post-wall development that positions film not as an experimental medium, but rather as “a site of mass diversion,” with distinct “aims to please” (qtd. Baer 84). Conceived from the outset as a commercial, transnational production, von Donnersmarck’s film relinquishes any responsibility to the German people, instead gearing its content towards international audiences in order to increase appeal for award considerations.
The unequal cultural influence of the two films is accentuated by their differing accessibility today. Other than by streaming on Kanopy (a platform for universities and academic institutions widely available in select English speaking, Western countries), the film can only be accessed by requesting a DVD from the DEFA Film Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. This indicates that the film is primarily consumed by young students (in the United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, where the platform is widely available and licensed for use), who may be assigned to watch Isabel on the Stairs for class, and thus view the film through an academic lens. As a result, the cultural memory produced by Unterberg’s film exists in the academic imagination of students and researchers. For many viewers, the events portrayed in the story are distant, both in terms of physical proximity and familial connection. Thus, the majority of popular modern imaginations of East Germany are not influenced by Isabel on the Stairs. On the other hand, The Lives of Others is a hugely popular film, widely available across a variety of streaming platforms, and regularly shown on television or in cinemas. Having won major accolades upon its release, including the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2007, von Donnersmarck’s film has emerged as emblematic of East Germany’s filmic representation. The wide array of both academic and popular literature on the film showcases its profound effect around the world on cultural memory and historical interpretations of East Germany.
Although transnationalism and globalization in the film industry allows for interconnectedness across borders and a greater awareness of different cultures, it has also created a power dynamic that favors the commercial ventures of the West over independent filmmakers and their stories. In the case of Isabel on the Stairs and The Lives of Others, the films’ differing legacies clearly represent this imbalance in the global film industry. Their divergent representations of history and contributions to cultural memory, defined by their respective external influences, clearly show a nuance in the perception of the East German experiment. However, the prominence of The Lives of Others in the collective consciousness as a “masterpiece” of the representation of East Germany stifles the opposing perspective of Isabel on the Stairs. As put by Margaret Montgomerie and Anne-Kathrin Reck in their article “The Lives of Others: re-remembering the German Democratic Republic,” in a post-wall, global capitalist world, “the experiences and worldviews of those who grew up in the East […] seem to have been turned into second class memories conquered and displaced by the capitalist West” (85).
With film's immense influence, shaping memory and history is a shared responsibility—not just of filmmakers, but also of audiences who engage with and interpret their work. Film and art take on meaning through the audience's interpretation. When audiences are guided toward specific types of films from limited perspectives, perception and memory inevitably skew toward one side of the story. As the “memories of our lifetimes,” films must aim to represent a wider spectrum of experience, and not just the lives of a certain few. Although most films, especially historical ones, require high budgets, filmmakers should strive to infuse their work with authenticity and a grounded perspective, as felt in Unterberg’s. Film is undeniably a business, but at its core, it remains an art form that thrives on collaboration—across cultures, generations, and social boundaries. Without embracing overlooked or niche perspectives, as seen in Isabel on the Stairs, the industry risks succumbing to a monotonous cultural hegemony of memory, one that no amount of money or production value can disguise.
Works Cited
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Maia Sheridan graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles in 2024 with a degree in European Languages and Transcultural Studies - French and Francophone with a minor in Film/TV/Digital Media Studies.
Picture: “Interior of 1970s East German apartment.” 2015. From Flickr. This image is licensed under Creative Commons 2.0. No changes have been made to the material.
