If the days of killing were now ending, those of rape and robbery were just beginning. It was a crime spree tacitly encouraged by Stalin himself, who suggested that it was quite understandable, “if a soldier who has crossed thousands of kilometers through blood and fire and death has fun with a woman or takes a trifle.” By some estimates, as many as two million German women would be raped in Soviet-occupied Germany during the first three months of peace, with at least 100,000 victims in Berlin alone.
