Prof Fulbrook, of University College London, yesterday gave a talk in Dunedin on "Living through the GDR", at a University of Otago conference titled "After the Wall?"
Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
On November 9, 1989, East German officials announced restrictions preventing free travel to the West would be lifted.
Some commentators have emphasised the powerful influence of the Stasi, the former East German secret police, and its extensive network of informers in maintaining social control in the German Democratic Republic, the former East Germany.
Such commentators have also suggested recent comments by some that they had happy memories of life in the East reflected manipulations by former Stasi members, or that the past was being viewed through rose-tinted glasses.
In her talk and in an interview, Prof Fulbrook said she did not want to minimise the role played by the Stasi during the GDR, with some people's lives "shattered" and informers, in some cases, betraying family members.
However, extensive research she had undertaken had shed further light on how the GDR had been sustained for 40 years.
Many of the people who played key leadership and other roles in carrying the new GDR forward were born about 1929 and were too young to be deeply implicated in Nazi actions but were nevertheless desperate for a better future after World War 2.
Many such people had happy memories of life in the 1950s when, in their early 20s, they were building their lives and those of their young families as well as helping to build the GDR, Prof Fulbrook said.
The conference was organised by the Otago politics department and the Otago German programme. It ends today.
