This is a compelling, heart-rending read. It is a diary kept by a young German woman in Berlin in the Spring of 1945. The diary was published anonymously in the 1950's and caused a great stir and a lot of hostility. It was re-published in the 1970's and a film was made in 2009. After her death the author was revealed as Marta Herta, a journalist.
She is unsparing about the fate of so many women, including herself who were raped by Russian soldiers. As a calculated means of survival she deliberately sought to attract Russian officers who would protect her from other soldiers and also supply her with food.
"Tuesday 24th April Around Noon. No news. We're completly cut off. Some gas but no water. Looking out of the window I see throngs of people outside the stores. They're still fighting over the rancid butter...."
Monday 28th May: "The future weighs on us like lead. All I can do is brace myself for what's to come and try to keep my inner flame alive. But why? What for? What task awaits me? I feel so hopelessly alone."
Wednesday 6th June: All I know is that we Germans are finished. We’re nothing but a colony, subject to their (The Allies) whims. I can't change any of that I just have to swallow it. All I want to do is steer my little ship through the shoals as best I can. That means hard work and short rations, but the old sun is still in the sky and maybe my heart will speak to me once more. One thing's for sure my life has certainly been full - all too full.
Simon Garfield, Observer Review: Reading A Woman in Berlin in one afternoon is an unnerving sensory experience: the walls close in, the air thickens, shrieks from children playing nearby adopt a sinister air. This is an all-enveloping book, a lyrical personal journal …. it leaves a deep scar.
The book brought home to me yet again, how ordinary people are powerless against the powerful. Powerless against those who are able to create mass movements of ideology, fed by propaganda, in order to bring about their own grandiose designs. Yet ordinary people are the ones who suffer most.
She is unsparing about the fate of so many women, including herself who were raped by Russian soldiers. As a calculated means of survival she deliberately sought to attract Russian officers who would protect her from other soldiers and also supply her with food.
"Tuesday 24th April Around Noon. No news. We're completly cut off. Some gas but no water. Looking out of the window I see throngs of people outside the stores. They're still fighting over the rancid butter...."
Monday 28th May: "The future weighs on us like lead. All I can do is brace myself for what's to come and try to keep my inner flame alive. But why? What for? What task awaits me? I feel so hopelessly alone."
Wednesday 6th June: All I know is that we Germans are finished. We’re nothing but a colony, subject to their (The Allies) whims. I can't change any of that I just have to swallow it. All I want to do is steer my little ship through the shoals as best I can. That means hard work and short rations, but the old sun is still in the sky and maybe my heart will speak to me once more. One thing's for sure my life has certainly been full - all too full.
Simon Garfield, Observer Review: Reading A Woman in Berlin in one afternoon is an unnerving sensory experience: the walls close in, the air thickens, shrieks from children playing nearby adopt a sinister air. This is an all-enveloping book, a lyrical personal journal …. it leaves a deep scar.
The book brought home to me yet again, how ordinary people are powerless against the powerful. Powerless against those who are able to create mass movements of ideology, fed by propaganda, in order to bring about their own grandiose designs. Yet ordinary people are the ones who suffer most.
0 comments:
Post a Comment