A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diary

by Anonymous

Book Overview

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice For eight weeks in 1945, as Berlin fell to the Russian army, a young woman kept a daily record of life in her apartment building and among its residents.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312426119
• Release Date: July 2006
• Publisher: Picador
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.2" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Aftermath in Berlin during world war ll

Wow ! Is just one of a hundred ways to describe this book ! Everything you have read about this book in the description, IS EXACTLY what your getting in this story ! The word BRAVERY is just to insignificant to even describe the Author of this Diary, and All of the poor devastated and Abused women ! How she can write, and not spew hatred, in every other word, is beyond me !! She just simply ..as she puts it, writes..to write about what is happening to all the older and younger woman that are left behind, as all the younger and able bodied men are all drafted off to fight. All that is left behind, are basically women of all ages..from very young to very old, children, and older men who can't fight in the war, because of age or illness. Their Struggles are so real, from No food, No Electricity, No water, not knowing what day, what week, even what time it is. Just the simple acts of taking a bath, cooking, eating, Just keeping a Roof over your head, from all the bombings.. ANYTHING that might be considered a luxury, but in reality is just the basics of everyday life..is GONE.. all GONE. Then to be attacked on a daily basis by the victorious Army... is unbelievable.!! These women young and old who lived through this, show their astonishing strength, resilience, and Courage that I couldn't even imagine having ! The Author of her diary does not write in a way where she condemns anyone or looks for sympathy...she just simply puts into words the REAL struggles of the aftermath of war. TO me HER and all the Young and Older Woman that endured ...should all be ordained into Sainthood!!! I think She and her Diary Are just REMARKABLE .

Amazingly humane and moving

It's almost a shame that the author is anonymous. Her writing is incredible. I have researched rape in conflict for the past three years and her insight and bravery and humor has helped challenge me. She truly is a survivor. I highly recommend this book. Far from being as depressing as you might think it is, it is an important book to read to understand what it means to be human and caught in the middle of a war.

A Woman in Berlin

This book tells the forgotten story of the average German citizen's experience during WWII. On par with Anne Frank's diary in terms of historical significance, poignant life experiences, and the sheer deconstruction of society during war. Of course, since it is an adult's perspective, the themes are on a more mature level. The writing is excellent, the images searing and moving. I can't believe this book is no longer in print or that it is not better known.

World War II From A Woman's Perspective

Most of the literature on World War II is written by men on the military ascepts of the conflict (see Winston Churchill's "The Second World War" or Stephen Ambrose's "D-Day"). This is a reprint of a classic memoir of a woman's survival in the wreckage of a fallen Berlin from fifty years ago. The anonymous writer writes grippingly of the brutal Russian occupation of Berlin in the late spring of 1945. Her first person account of the repeated rapes by the Russians and the choices that a woman needed to make in the chaos of war in order to live is chilling. The building ruins, the hunger, the lack of sanitation of a ruined capital are all here. "A Woman in Berlin" is a powerful book and will make the reader wonder how far they would go to survive if they were in a similiar situation.