Also good is "The File: A Personal History" by Timothy Garton-Ash ( http://www.amazon.com/File-Personal-Timothy-Garton-Ash/dp/06... ). The author returns to Germany after re-unification and researches his own Stasi file from when he was in East Berlin in the late 70's as a part of his post-graduate research from Oxford.

I recently read The File by Timothy Garton Ash, a British journalist who spent a fair amount of time in East Germany in the last decade of the DDR. After reunification he was able to obtain his Stasi file. He learned how the Stasi perceived him as a risk and began contacting those who snitched on him.

The stories of how some of the informants became informants are fascinating. One cooperated with the Stasi in order to obtain exit visas for official travel. Some were Ash's friends seeking to boost their careers, some were just pleased to do their part in furthering the cause of socialism.

Ash was never imprisoned or tortured and could leave whenever he pleased (though he was eventually barred from entering the DDR). He didn't really suffer at the hands of the Stasi but the book is a terrific look at the Stasi's surveillance and intimidation through the eyes of a single individual.

http://www.amazon.com/The-File-A-Personal-History/dp/0679777...

I have a nerdish interest in the Stasi for reasons I can't quite explain. I've not seen the movie, but I'd recommend Stasiland:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasiland

as an account of various people who lived under the Stasi. Also, The File:

http://www.amazon.com/The-File-A-Personal-History/dp/0679777...

The (again, factual) story of someone uncovering their own file and researching its history.