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Jan 05, 2009

Zinta rated it:

When we speak of war fatalities, of those who have fallen, of those who have offered themselves up as sacrifices for the purpose of... but to what purpose? We think of fallen soldiers on the battlefield, yet far behind those front lines that so often are saluted in honor with parades and holidays -- are the women. Throughout the history of humankind, women of all ages have been treated as the prize of the conquerer. To the winner go the spoils, and the spoils are women.

"A Woman More...

0 comments like (13 people liked it)

Nov 22, 2008

Trée rated it:

Two days after finishing, I still can't stop thinking about the haunting beauty of this rare journal, deeply saddened at the events described and equally saddened she didn't write more. This is the kind of book that sucks all the oxygen out of the air, that needs space once it is finished. The idea of starting something new is out of the question, almost sacrilege. One wants a moment of silence, to reach through time and hug the writer, which cannot be done.

The prose is understated a More...

1 comment like (11 people liked it)

Feb 19, 2009

Denis rated it:

This is quite a stunning book - some have questioned its authenticity, some on the contrary have carefully explained why it can only be a real document. The fact is, this diary of an ordinary German citizen who lives through the fall of Berlin, during WWII, is breathtaking, and transports us like no other book does into the heart of a nightmare that did happen. As any diary written by a simple citizen, it's all about daily life - yet daily life in Berlin in 1945 is far from normal. It's actuall More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 30, 2007

KIM rated it:

A journalist recorded what it was like to be in Berlin when it fell under Russina control during WWII. Cut off from the rest of the world, civilians (particularly young women) were subjected to the usual horrors of war as the Russians raped and pillaged bombed out dwellings. This is a part of history not often reported-- partly because the Germans themselves felt ashamed by their military defeat/inability to protect their civilians. Though the author remained anonymous for obvious reasons, he More...

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Sep 06, 2007

Sundry rated it:

A truly amazing journal of one woman’s experience. She was a writer before the war, and traveled widely, and keeping a diary probably helped her keep her sanity.

Very well written. Intelligent discourse. An important look at the particular price women pay in wartime, how they become part of the loot and a target for vengence.

The author also observes in detail how society changes in times of extreme danger and deprivation. How it flexes to allow for every individual doing w More...

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Sep 13, 2010

Rowland rated it:

WHEN THE ANGEL SING WITH TEARS OF BLOOD

Focusing in particular on the German-Soviet war in the East, this book explores variations in patterns of sexual violence associated with armed forces in Europe during and immediately after World War II subjectively. Besides soldier violence perpetrated against civilian populations, a significant role was also played by irregular forces: most notably, by partisan guerrillas and civilian vigilantes. Ethnic nationalist partisan forces perpet More...

6 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 28, 2009

Denise rated it:

This is one the best WW2 firsthand accounts written by a German woman I have ever read (sorry for the run-on sentence). I could not put this book down.

It is the fascinating account of the last days of Berlin under the Third Reich, as well as when the Russians conquered the city. The anonymous author kept a journal of her experiences from which this book was later derived. I was stunned by the number of rapes committed by the Russians upon the German women and girls--I had no idea More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 14, 2008

Hannah added it

Matter-of-fact and quietly devastating.

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Mar 22, 2008

Maurice rated it:

The sad events of World War II have traumatized many people on all sides of the conflict. “A Woman in Berlin” is an autobiographical description of the trauma experienced by a young German woman living in Berlin during the Russian conquest. It was written anomalously and published after the war. This thirty-four year old woman probably was impressed with German success early in the War, but experienced, first hand, the consequences of such aggression. Her comment about Hitler’s dreams of con More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 01, 2008

Gwen rated it:

This is the diary a woman kept during the weeks when the Russians occupied Berlin in 1945. I knew nothing about this episode--when you learn about the end of WWII, it's all about liberating the concentration camps, not what happened to the Germans. I mean, it's hard to work up a lot of sympathy.

Until you read the introduction, in which you find out that over 100,000 German women were raped by Russian soldiers in the first couple of weeks after Berlin fell. Hitler, being a megalomania More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 15, 2007

Mark rated it:

This is one of the best memoirs I have ever read of World War II. It not from the perspective of soldier, but a woman living in Berlin when it fell to the Russians. The bulk of the book takes places in one building, during 8 weeks starting when the Russians were approaching. You see civilization start to fall away as the city starts to fall apart (no water, no electricity); and you see people striped to their most basic as hunger and fear step in. In the first few weeks the Russians raped an More...

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Nov 06, 2007

Ally rated it:

This blew me away. What it might be like to live in a city that's subject to invasion, occupation and destruction by an enemy whose force you cannot hope to match -- that's what it offers us a glimpse of.

The fact that it's from a German perspective only underlines the reach of this diary. It's an anonymous woman's account of the 20 or so days during which the Russians took Berlin in April 1945. When a city's unarmed citizens (especially the women) become spoils for the victors, and w More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 28, 2007

Adri rated it:

This is an anonymous account by a young woman of the weeks in Berlin after it fell to the Russian Army in 1945.

I'm not sure where to start, because there are a lot of surprising, compelling and troubling themes and stories in this book.

On a philosophical level, the way in which time is perceived, marked and recorded in this book made me think differently about history and timelines. History and experience, or History and memory, are not the same, and yet somehow linked More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 03, 2008

Casey rated it:

This is one of the most incredible books I have ever read and I think that it is a book that everyone should read, but more importantly every woman should read. it is a story of strength and resiliance and gives us a glimpse into the lives of people that we may have thought growing up were the "bad guys". Every time I learn more and more about WWII I realize that aside from the horrible atrocities of the holocaust, the line between good and bad can sometimes be unclear. A word of warni More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2009

Marsha rated it:

One of the best books I have read in a long time. I cannot get it out of my head. So many things to think about after having read it. I am surprised by how similar we Americans today are in our thinking and view of the world to the Germans of Hitler's time.

Do we not see ourselves as superior to those living in third world countries or the illegal aliens? Do we not hold up our inventions and the law and order of our society as examples of how evolved we are? The woman in the sto More...

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Sep 21, 2010

Nat rated it:

So very dark and hard to read at times (okay, a lot of the time), but incredible. I'm very glad I read this. I learned a lot about something I didn't know anything much about (the Russian occupation of Berlin). It was also a rare opportunity to get the Germans' perspective, and that, too, primarily of the women.

The diarist is amazing. How she was able to maintain her composure, resolve, and sense of humour is truly inspiring. The passage on pp. 174-176 was my favourite. It reads in More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 23, 2008

Kerry rated it:

This book is a diary format of a single woman living in Berlin at the end of World War II. This book is an on the ground personal account that personifies some of the horrors of war and its aftermath. She captures the urgency that the people felt to fulfill their basic needs and the realities of how this happened. Having been to Berlin, her descriptions of the local districts and how to go between them during this difficult period was of interest to me. Plus, I think this book captures the pe More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 23, 2008

Katy rated it:

I was floored. Jaw on the floor, heart in my stomach, tears in my eyes floored. This book should be required reading for all women everywhere. It should be on high school reading lists and mandatory for all new military recruits. About what war does to women and children, about how the men go and fight and forget that if they lose it’s the women who suffer. Who are raped repeatedly and who watch their children starve to death in the rubble of their lives. But Anonymous writes her journal entries More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 05, 2008

Becky rated it:

Originally published in the 1950s, this book is a personal journal written by a young single woman in Berlin at the end of W War II, as the Russian military took control of the city. The author chose to remain anonymous, writing about the rape experiences of civilian women as 'spoils' of war for the conquering troops. She writes candidly on an uncommon theme which created enough controversy that she declined to allow a reprinting during her lifetime. The book was reprinted after her death a few More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 16, 2009

Michael rated it:

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Aug 15, 2011

Oana rated it:

When the Russians took over Berlin, the soldiers were told that the women of that city were theirs. Though male authors have tackled rape in times of war, some of the books I read have minimized the severity or called into question whether or not women were actually raped. Thus A Woman in Berlin was welcome, in that it told a story we all know happened.

The book is based on the author's journal, which begins with the week before the arrival of the Russians and ends about two month More...

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Sep 16, 2010

Becca rated it:

A MUST READ!
I was given this book to read as I am editing a series of diaries myself, although fictional ones. But it sat to the side for many months, as the book jacket description made the book sound like it would be another horrific, depressing account of World War II. I had heard enough from my grandparents and my father about their own near-death experiences in Eastern Europe during that time. Yet like them, the Anonymous author seemed to grow in strength and was able to survive the u More...

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Apr 18, 2010

Leslie rated it:

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Dec 14, 2008

Jennie rated it:

I just finished this book and I'm sorting out my feelings about it. On the one hand, it is truly incredible, this woman's story of what happened in Berlin when Germany lost and the Russians arrived. I'd like to read more about rape as a tool of war - it's an interesting concept. What she chose to do during this time would make for an INCREDIBLE discussion amongst women.
On the other hand, I can't help but say I wouldn't do the same, given the same circumstances. If I were single, with no on More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 12, 2010

Andrew rated it:

I hope to find time to devote a review to a book which certainly merits a substantial amount of space. But to record first impressions: firstly, presuming that it is genuine (and Anthony Beevor deals with that in his introduction; and furthermore it was published in around 1954, so even if not genuine retains credibility), I was amazed and impressed by the intelligence, fortitude, and pragmatism of the authoress. The next thing that struck me was the retention of a sense of humour despite the More...

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Nov 06, 2009

Daniel rated it:

My rating needs an explanation. I wasn't sure whether to give this book a three or a five. On the one hand, it was beautifully written and the subject matter was moving. Yet, I couldn't get over the fact that this was supposedly the diary of an ex-Nazi propagandist (which the writer herself fails to mention).

That brought into question the nature of what I was reading - was this woman truly SO victimized, as she wrote in her "diary" - or did she have some political agenda? More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 25, 2010

Tim rated it:

This is a fascinating memoir recounting the first weeks of the Soviet occupation of Berlin, during which vast numbers of women were raped by Soviet troops. The picture which emerges is that the rapes were basically a form of 'booty' - the invading army were billeted upon the local population, and given a degree of licence to help themselves to food, property ... and sex. It seems pretty clear that this was a pragmatic decision by the Soviet high command, as a solution both to the problem of stre More...

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May 22, 2009

LindyLouMac rated it:

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/6391...

This personal diary covers a two month period in the life of a young German woman. She writes of her life in Berlin from April to June 1945 when Berliners came to realise what war and defeat was to mean to them as the Russian army arrived in the city. The protagonist is anonymous but we know that she worked in publishing and is intelligent. She speaks some Russian and French which helped her to cope in the horrendous situation Berliners found More...

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Dec 14, 2010

Banafsheh rated it:

In the early hours of 16 April 1945, civilians in the eastern quarters of Berlin were awoken by a distant rolling thunder…Women emerged slowly from their apartments and exchanged meaningful looks with neighbours…The long awaited Soviet offensive had at last begun.
Spanning just over two months of Soviet occupation, A Woman in Berlin is the journal entries of a 34 year old German woman. Recounting life within the fallen city, she describes the sacking of Berlin by the Russian army. W More...

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Jan 04, 2012

Bonnie rated it:

I had never heard of this book and found it when I was on our library's web site looking up "Berlin Diary" by William Shirer. I decided to check it out. It is a short book and a fast read and I found it extremely interesting.

I was a bit concerned that it would be too unpleasant to get through since I know that women suffered a great deal when the Russians took Berlin since over 100,000 women were raped at that time, many by numerous soldiers. That is covered in the book. More...

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