A Woman in Berlin

by Anonymous

Paperback, 2006

Status

Available

Call number

920

Genres

Publication

Virago Press (2006), Edition: New, 311 pages

Description

Between April 20th and June 22nd of 1945 the anonymous author of A Woman in Berlin wrote about life within the falling city as it was sacked by the Russian Army. Fending off the boredom and deprivation of hiding, the author records her experiences, observations and meditations in this stark and vivid diary. Accounts of the bombing, the rapes, the rationing of food and the overwhelming terror of death are rendered in the dispassionate, though determinedly optimistic prose of a woman fighting for survival amidst the horror and inhumanity of war. This diary was first published in America in 1954 in an English translation and in Britain in 1955. A German language edition was published five years later in Geneva and was met with tremendous controversy. In 2003, over forty years later, it was republished in Germany to critical acclaim - and more controversy. This diary has been unavailable since the 1960s and is now newly translated into English. A Woman in Berlin is an astonishing and deeply affecting account.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member John

A Woman in Berlin is an excellent book. At some points, the horrors it describes are hard to read but it is, at the same time, a testimony to intellectual honesty, strength of character, and if not exactly an optimism, at least an indomitable spirit. Anonymous was a journalist who, pre-war, had

traveled extensively and who spoke some Russian (which became very useful). She was in Berlin when the Red Army swept in and then, in the first couple of weeks, engaged in mass rape; the best estimates are that 100,000 women were raped in Berlin, many repeatedly in gang rapes or in other incidents. Anonymous was herself raped several times until she found refuge, as did many, in attaching herself to one "protector" with whom she would have sex (rape by another name) in exchange for protection from marauders. There was an added ‘benefit' in that the protectors, as victors, had access to foodstuffs that Berliners could only dream about, and which, in many instances, made the difference between life and death. Anonymous had three or four protectors and each time she managed to raise the bar in terms of the education and finesse of the man involved. For one of them she even developed a certain fondness. But with one or two of these, in particular, one was always walking on eggs because, especially in their drink, the Russians could go off and become extremely violent in a time and place when life, especially German life, was not even cheap, it was insignificant.

Anonymous also had very strong powers of observation, and the memoir is an excellent description of the last days of the Nazi regime in the crumbling city and disintegrating social system, the sweeping in of the Red Army, the rebuilding of community services and infrastructure, the relations between people themselves undergoing incredible tensions, the good, the bad and the ugly of personal behaviours (she refers a few times to homo homini lupus), and the effect of war, crushing defeat and destruction on individual lives. Small wonder that the book had a difficult time finding a publisher post-war and when published, it did not do very well; it aroused too many emotions.

Anonymous is honest. She notes at one point that everyone is "turning their backs on Adolf, no one was ever a supporter. Everyone was persecuted, and no one denounced anyone else". And then she asks: "What about me? Was I for.....or against? What's clear is that I was there, that I breathed what was in the air and it affected all of us, even if we didn't want it to".

Despite the despair, which would be so easy to give into, Anonymous has the strength to face her situation and her future:

"I feel that I belong to my people, that I want to share their fate, even now. But how? When I was young the red flag seemed like such a bright beacon, but there's no way back to that now, not for me;...And I long ago lost my childhood piety, so that God and the Beyond have become mere symbols and abstractions. Should I believe in progress? Yes, to bigger and better bombs. The happiness of the greater number? Yes, for Petka [one of her Russian protectors] and his ilk. An idyll in a quiet corner? Sure, for people who comb the fringes of their rugs. Possessions, contentment? I have to keep from laughing, homeless urban nomad that I am. Love? Lies trampled on the ground. And were it ever to rise again, I would always be anxious, could never find true refuge, would never again hope for permanence.

Perhaps art, toiling away in the service of form? Yes, for those who have the calling, but I don't. I'm just an ordinary laborer, I have to be satisfied with that. All I can do is touch my small circle and be a good friend. What's left is just to wait for the end. Still, the dark and amazing adventure of life is beckoning. I'll stick around, out of curiosity and because I enjoy breathing and stretching my limbs."

A remarkable woman. A book well worth reading. It is a very great pity that she did not write more in later years about her own personal journey and the reconstruction of German society; based on this memoir, it would have been excellent.

(April/06)

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LibraryThing member TrishNYC

When I first saw this book in the bookstore, I was immediately intrigued. I have always wondered as to the fate of everyday Germans after their country's defeat by the allies in world war 2. This book seeks to answer that and is made even more haunting by the fact that it is a true story.

The

author is a journalist before the war and is now unemployed and living on rations at the start of her journal. For eight weeks she details in excruciating detail the fall of her city and the consequences on its inhabitants. By the time that the author begins writing, it is clear that Germany is on the brink of defeat despite all assertions to the populace that an upswing is at hand. The author and her neighbors are forced to endure almost daily jaunts into the basements to take refuge from the bombardments of the allies.

As the war ended, the nightmare of the peace began for the women of Berlin. The Russian soldiers billeted in their neighborhood decided that it was time to claim the spoils of war, human beings(specifically the women) being their chief prize. Whereas the neighborhood had to previously worry about air raids and hunger, the biggest fear now became who and which of them would get raped and how many times. Early on the author realizes that if she is not shrewd, she will end up being violated by several different soldiers so perhaps it would serve her better to find one soldier, preferably of a high rank and have him be her constant defiler. It is a horrifying way to think or even live but this is her new reality and she must live with it. After reaching this agreement with the officer, she remains relatively protected and the officer also provides food and company for her and her room mates.

When the Russians finally leave and the men begin to return home, the women find that they(i.e the men) do not want to discuss what has happened in their absence. It is obvious that they are ashamed that they have failed to protect their women but some of them seem to blame the women. In fact, one of the only critics who reviewed this book in Germany when it was first published seemed to imply that the author should be ashamed of herself for what he saw as her wanton behavior.

Something that I really wanted to hear the author say was what her position was in regards to the Nazi party and its goals. Was she a supporter? Was she a dissenter? She never says and it seems to me like she purposefully avoided that perhaps fearing that if/when the journal was one day published and her readers were to hear of her sufferings, they would temper it with knowledge of her support for the Nazis if she has been one of them. This is speculation on my part and I have no real evidence to prove her allegiances.

Regardless of whatever side she fell on Hitler's views, no one deserves what she and the other women were forced to endure. It was brutal, degrading and barbaric. This is a haunting book that keeps you thinking long after you have put it down. When will we as a world rid ourselves of self destruction?

On a side note, I have seen some articles that debunk or deny the voracity of her claims. But what is important for me in reading this book is the universality of her story. Even if this particular woman did not experience all that she has detailed, the truth is many women did and many more women since and in other wars have experienced same and worse.

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LibraryThing member Karlus

A memoir by a woman journalist relates her experiences in Berlin during a critical eight weeks in the life of that City. It progresses from the beginning of the final Russian onslaught; to the capture the city at the end of WW II; through the capitulation of Germany; to peaceful but hard times

again under the Russian Occupation, as German soldiers begin to trickle back from the front. The memoir was first written by candlelight, in bomb shelters, with stubs of pencils, as people, mainly older and younger women, huddled together and, not knowing what to expect, feared the worst from the approaching Russian Army. Later re-typed into the more flowing and graceful narrative that we have here, the memoir nevertheless conveys a sense of the horror, desperation, loneliness, fear, hunger, uncertainty and despair that characterized life within the narrow horizon of neighbors who had to accommodate to each other to survive. The book echoes other stories that we know of privation during the war, and the Russian Army did arrive with consequent looting, raping and pillaging, as one might expect. The author survived by her wiles, successfully soliciting quasi-permanent arrangements with a succession of Russian officers, wherein she bartered her charms and companionship for desperately needed food that fed her and the members of her communal survival circle, for want of a better term. The alternative, as she saw it, was to be exposed night after night to wanton and multiple rape at the hands of soldiers who went out 'on the hunt' every night as the sun went down. Life was lived at or below survival level during those weeks, with people doing what they had to do, as much as they could bring themselves to do it.
From a larger perspective, the story is almost a morality tale. As the Russian front at first approaches, then encompasses, and then passes beyond Berlin, one reads of the progressive collision of moral standards against the need for survival and the blurry accommodations that are made. Afterward, as her boyfriend miraculously arrives back from the front, unharmed, that story is too much for him to absorb and he judges the survivors' behavior against re-emerging moral standards. He moves on and abandons her. This is a story of hardship and life as it was. To me, the ages old plea cries out from the heart, let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

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LibraryThing member Den282

Set in Berlin in 1945 over a two month period, the author leads us through her traumatic experiences in trying to survive. Throughout the book the theme of survival and hunger are ever-present, yet the author presents her situation with poise and a sense of accepting what she needs to do to

survive. I did some research and discovered that the author, believed to be Marta Hiller, survived and lived to be 91 years old. A real story of hope and survival in the most terrible of times.

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LibraryThing member bettyjo

unbelievable story of survival as Berlin was being approached by the Russians at the end of WWII.

LibraryThing member robertg69

A day to day retelling of the experience of women and some men when the Soviet Army invaded Berlin in April-May 1945. The story explains how German women acted and felt during indiscriminate rape and brutalization as Soviet soldiers and officers took over and lived in a Berlin neighbourhood.

LibraryThing member moncrieff

This is a fascinating account of a woman in Berlin during the fall to Russian forces at the end of WWII.

LibraryThing member Jeffrey414

My reading this summer has been some particularly depressing work. “A Game of Shadows” detailing the rampant drug use among elite athletes in major sports (Romanowski), Olympic athletes (Marion Jones), and among some of baseball’s biggest stars of the 1998 and current all-time home run race

(McGwire, Sosa, Bonds). “I Am No One You Know” by Joyce Carol Oates was another work of short stories that were particularly disturbing and dark. “A Woman in Berlin” by Anonymous may have been both the darkest and yet most hopeful of the three. Post World War II Berlin is the setting for this diary. I enjoyed her candid and honest writing and her simple style of relating her observations. I was truly unaware that this is the fate of all women in conquered cities after war. Rape, starvation, humiliation, and a constant struggle to survive, or in some cases to give in, give up, or commit suicide is their fate. This writer is a survivor, keeping her sanity, her humor, and her life. “All I can do is touch my small circle and be a good friend. What’s left is just to wait for the end. Still, the dark and amazing adventure of life is beckoning. I’ll stick around, out of curiosity and because I enjoy breathing and stretching my healthy limbs.” That a woman can survive with so little despite the crushing and devastating experiences she suffered makes our lives seems so much more blessed and full. Sadly, recent stories out of Iraq are now detailing similar injustices by American soldiers on Iraqi citizens including, rape, murder, and mutilation. I thought we studied history to learn from our mistakes.

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LibraryThing member BudaBaby

A riveting account of a woman's life in Russian-occupied, post WWII Berlin.

LibraryThing member Jadesbooks

The story starts out with a woman who is living in a friend's apartment in Berlin since her own place was destroyed by the air raides.
The time line is from April 20, 1945 to Mid-Late June 1945. The woman who wrote the diary was a journalist in Berlin before and after the war. It's been documented

that the diary is not a fake and has been authenticated. This alone makes the story feel more real. And knowing what happened in World War II, Hitler's madness, control and destruction - this sheds new light on some of the actual people of Berlin, an insight if you will, on how some of the German people felt about the fall of Germany to the Allied troops.
I was never one to think about the individual people who are left in the cities that have been invaded, but after reading this, I will think of them - the elderly, women and children. Knowing that in all war, there is rape and pillage going on with the areas invaded - but to have a real account of it, makes one think twice about war.
The author talks about the concentration camps that are found and liberated, how the people there were killed and used as fertilizer, soaps, matress stuffing etc. All the while she writes with a sort of coldness, like she is a witness to the things going on around her. That she has had to become cold to survive - and survive she did.

Well worth the read, an interesting and thought provoking book!

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LibraryThing member Trinity

A terrific WWII story about a woman surviving however she can when Russian troops invaded Berlin. It isnt a pretty story but one that is very important.

LibraryThing member AnneliM

the eight weeks are the ones right after the Russians come into Berlin at the end of World War II.

LibraryThing member mikerr

An intelligent woman describes in searing detail what life was like for her and her neighbours in the final weeks of the war. The arrival of the victorious Russians shifts the narrative from the horror of the bombs to a new kind of self-preservation. This is a really gripping book that you won't be

able to put down. Highly recommended.

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LibraryThing member amykim

Fascinating to read about this particular time of history from this perspective. Gained some insight that I didn't previously have. Fast read. Enjoyable.

LibraryThing member Meggo

Compelling, moving, disturbing, thought provoking. This book paints a vivid picture of life in a conquered city and the struggles and privations associated with living with war. It's one woman's diary written in an unblinking way, hiding little. The only thing I wanted after reading this work was

to discover who the unknown author really was, and what had happened to her after the war. One hopes, something nice.

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LibraryThing member mjennings26

Profound. Everyone should read this book.

LibraryThing member pokarekareana

It is April 1945, and Berlin is falling. The anonymous narrator describes these few turbulent weeks, in which the Thousand-Year Reich crumbles, Hitler commits suicide, the Russians arrive, and the map of Europe begins to be redrawn. This book had me captivated from the first; I had expected it to

be wall-to-wall peril and suffering and all the horrendous accessories, and while there was plenty of that, there were green shoots of hope amongst the rubble too. She talks of befriending Russian soldiers, and describes the lengths to which she went to get food for herself and her friends. Ultimately I really enjoyed this book because it describes an awful period of time in a nuanced and balanced way. Had I lived through this, I think I would have taken out a piece of paper and written “WOE IS ME!” and left it at that. I am very glad and thankful that this anonymous person managed so much better than that.

A word of warning, though, to those of a certain disposition – there is a lot of talk of rape in this book, and sometimes I found the author’s approach to be incredibly aloof; possibly a necessity at the time to preserve one’s sanity, but it might not suit all tastes today.

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LibraryThing member drmaf

A book that brings an interesting mix of feelings for the (non-German) reader. Sympathy for the women who had to endure rape, starvation, the whims of their Russian conquerors, and conflict and jealousy among themselves as they scrapped for survival, and at the same time righteous joy that the

Germans are getting what they deserved after inflicting such horrors on the world. Admittedly its hard to feel much empathy with the Russian soldiers, the best of whom are simply ignorant and boorish, the worst of whom are no better than the Nazis they conquered, but my sympathy for the author and her compatriots was much more muted than it would have been for, say Polish women, or Russian women for that matter. Really this is a difficult book to read impartially - a small amount of empathy and a whopping dose of schadenfreude, although the reader will have to admit that the author's refusal to drown in self-pity, her pluck, practicaility and talent for survival are admirable and make this a worthwhile read.

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LibraryThing member MauriceAWilliams

“A Woman in Berlin” is the diary of a thirty-four year old German woman, a successful journalist who wrote an eye-witness account of the Soviet conquest of Berlin. Her diary starts on April 20, 1945. Berlin contained about 2,000,000 people, mostly civilians, many women and children. Advancing

toward Berlin is a 1,500,000-man Soviet army, all battle-hardened, well-trained, and well-equipped soldiers.

Her first entry in her diary is “It’s true the war is rolling toward Berlin. What was yesterday a distant rumble has now become a constant roar. Our fate is rolling in from the East, and it will transform our entire climate, like another Ice Age.” Seven days later, the Russians are at her door. She is raped along with many other women in Berlin.

To protect herself from repeated rapes, the young German woman seeks a relationship with a Russian officer: “Alliance with a big wolf will keep the rest of the pack away!” It worked to some extent. She was still forcibly raped, but not as often as she would have been without the protection of the officer. In her diary, she criticized the retreating German army for leaving liquor behind in hope that a drunken army can no longer wage war. “Don’t the Nazis realize what drunken soldiers would do to captured women?” The adulation Berliners once had for Hitler, when he seemed invincible, now becomes: “No pole is too high (to hang him).”

She describes the forced labor to dismantle factories and ship the machines and supplies by rail to Russia. She also relates other observations: “I long ago lost my childhood piety so that God and the Beyond have become mere symbols and abstractions.” “Why does a cross on a grave affect us if we no longer call ourselves Christian?” Her diary ends on June 22, 1945. Her last entry is about her boyfriend: “Does Gerd still think of me? Maybe we’ll find our way back to each other yet.”

After the war, the young woman typed her handwritten notes and had them published in the 1950’s. Her diary was not well received in Germany. She then remained out of the public eye for her remaining years. The woman survived to be ninety, dying in 2001. Her diary is another vivid eye-witness account of civilian’s experience when their whole world collapses around them. I found this book very interesting.

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LibraryThing member krizia_lazaro

I love history and this just shows a very tiny part of Germany's history. I loved how it was centered on the experiences of the women in Berlin. It shows you that not only men were the hero of any war but women can also be heroes too. It shows you that not all men are heroes, some can also be

monsters. It shows you that women also suffer during wars. An eye-opener for everyone.

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LibraryThing member bnbookgirl

I don't want to discount the woman's harrowing story as it is heartbreaking. I just think this book was much to long. This woman is scraping by living in Berlin when the Russians overtake the city. They abuse the women and help themselves to whatever they need. They also bring gifts to the women.

Some women consider this abuse rape while at the same time, a necessary part of survival. They are struggling for food, water, shelter and personal pride. This story is very heartbreaking and a very important part of history. Just wish it was cut down a bit in length.

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LibraryThing member lamour

While the subtitle is "Eight Weeks in Berlin", it must have seemed like a lifetime for the German women and men who lived through it. The diary commences on April 20, 1945, Hitler's birthday. The Russians were closing in from the East and had begun shelling the city. Food rations had been meager

under the German government but now all organization collapsed so food became the issue for everyone.

The real hell for the civilians started when the Russian troops arrived and they went on a rampage of rape and pillage. They took anything they saw as the consumer goods Germans took for granted were new to the Russian soldiers.

The Russian soldiers' raping frenzy knew no age. Any woman if found could face it and in many case from multiple attackers at the same time. Why did they did they do it? Was it for sexual release and gratification? Or was it revenge for what the SS and German troops had done in Russia? Or was it release from four years of harassment by their officers and commissars? What ever the reason, it forced many Germans to commit suicide or hide out for long periods of time in filthy conditions. Others accepted their fate and even tried to get food from the soldiers who were assaulting them.

At one point the author wonders if her relationship with a Russian officer where he gets sex and she receives food makes her a whore.

A heartbreaking book but a vivid description of life in a city with no real controls.

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LibraryThing member Iudita

I really don't know how I feel about this book. There were many sections of it that did not seem to me like genuine diary entries, especially a diary written under duress which she most certainly was. It made me question the intent of the journal. Not that I question the truth of it - I don't. It

just felt like it was written with a specific purpose to expose the situation in a certain manner, as opposed to the random thoughts and depths of feeling you would normally find in a diary. I had to constantly remind myself that I couldn't possibly imagine what this woman was living through, therefore could not question her thoughts and feelings, but still, the more I read the more questions I had and that's how it ended for me. With so many questions that I really don't know what to make of it. I'm still glad to have read it and would recommend it, especially because it offers a point of view that we don't see very often. I just think it should be read with a critical mind.

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LibraryThing member tmph

Saw the movie last night. Streaming on Netflix. Powerful, extremely though-provoking, and thoughtful movie about rape and war. The diary was written by a German woman journalist living in Berlin during the Battle of Berlin and the Russian advances into the city.

LibraryThing member Ken-Me-Old-Mate

I like a book that challenges fixed ideas. This book is one of them. In short it is the story of a woman surviving in Russian occupied Berlin during WW2. She does what she has to do to survive as does others. Supposedly it is a true story and I don’t doubt that. It comes from time of courage and

that is one thing that really shines through, both hers and others’ and also the lack of it in others.

It does not conform to the simplistic view of the world and its wars. I do not think Hollywood could handle this without a major re-write. I imagine that it will polarise views of Women, Germans and Russians but probably not of ourselves huh?

It will make you cry several times and make you ashamed.

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