Meanwhile, in the capital, graffiti with Soviet stars started to appear on formerly communist housing estates. More generally, most Berliners vented their bitterness at their plight on the Party and its meddling in military affairs, but there was still a clamour for Hitler, or even Goebbels, to speak ‘now in the hour of greatest need’. Flight seemed pointless: ‘Where should one flee to?’ The only hope lay in the very speed of the Americans’ advance towards the Elbe during the previous week, as people canvassed the possibility ‘that the Anglo-Americans will still reach Berlin ahead of the
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