Submerged on the Surface: The Not-So-Hidden Jews of Nazi Berlin, 1941–1945

by Richard N. Lutjens Jr.

Removing the history of that event from the overall context of the Battle of Berlin distorts the complex impact it had on the survivors. Moreover, it mythologizes and whitewashes a moment in the history of submerged life that, when contextualized, reinforces the connection between the submerged Jews of Berlin and the city.

Indeed, Soviet soldiers raped German women on a staggering scale.108 Well over one million German women, ranging from children to the elderly, were victims of rape during the Soviet campaign; in Berlin alone, the soldiers raped between 95,000 and 130,000 women.109