Still not going there
When Anna first goes to Berlin, she notices how many people, despite having the resources and the possibility to travel and to go to the other side of Berlin, still decided not to do it. Anna meets a woman who tells her about a lover she had on the other side of the Berlin Wall but when she is asked if she went to look for him, the old woman claims she has not for an unknown reason. Thus, Anna notices how ironically, the people who were separated for a long time from one another still did not tried to make contact with their families and friends on the other side even though they were allowed to and free to do whatever they wanted.Still
Do not lie to me
In the third chapter, Miriam explains how she was tortured after she was caught when she tried to escape from Berlin. After being caught, Miriam was tortured in order to confess being helped by an underground organization to escape from Berlin. After ten days of being tortured, Miriam lied and told the officer who was torturing her what he wanted to hear and only after that was Miriam allowed to sleep. A few days later, the same man came in, angry with Miriam for lying to him about the man who helped her and was given a harsher sentence of her behavior. Miriam notes, ironically, that when she tried to tell the truth, no one was listening to her and only when she lied was left alone. She also notes that the only reason she lied was because she wanted to be left alone and be allowed to finally sleep and that when she tried to tell the truth, no one was willing to listen to her.
Letting people cross on the other side
In the 6th chapter, Anna mentions how in 1989, in a desperate attempt at regaining his power, Mielke and the then Secretary General of East Germany, allowed people to cross from one side to the other of the Berlin Wall. The two men hoped their action will make the people less reluctant to rebel and calm them down so the Communist Government could reclaim their power. Ironically, this did not happen as the people who came in East Germany proceeded with destroying the Wall, ending once and for all the division between the West and East Germany.
Wearing the band
In the 14th chapter, Anna mentions how even though the Nazis no longer had a power in the country, their influence could still be seen almost every day. Anna mentions how she used to see people with disabilities wearing a yellow band around their arms as a visual sign of their disabilities. For Anna, the presence of the bands is ironic because it makes her think about the band wore by the Jews during the Second World War and how much pain and suffering it brought to the people.
Being a blind man is the best way to observe other people
In the 15th chapter, Anna meets with a man named Her Christian who used to work for the Stasi and who used to wear disguises while he was spying on the citizens. Christian tells Anna how he used to disguise himself as a blind man to be left alone to watch the citizens. This statement is made in an ironic way and transmits the idea that the people who were watched more than often were blind to the people watching them.
