German writer and former political prisoner Siegmar Faust gives a horrifying account of life in East Germany under the omnipresent State Security Police—the infamous Stasi—which, at its height, employed one out of every 60 members of the population. Faust tells the story of how, as a young university student, he was arrested for his outspoken criticism of the autocratic government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).He details the various methods used by the Stasi in order to punish him, including two months of starvation conditions and 742 days of solitary confinement.