“I’m interested in how certain strands of my biography fit into a wider global history of Germany, the GDR [East Germany], and contract workers coming to Germany,” said Sung Tieu of her intertwining of archival research, fiction, and a notably distanced approach to her own personal experience. Virtually indistinguishable from each other, the effect is one of unease, magnified by her subjects, which span hidden threats, psychological warfare, and surveillance both historical and contemporary.