Status Updates From A Woman in Berlin

"When it comes to heating, other people's furniture burns better than your own."

"These days, too, there are times when I feel I can't be sure of anything, that nothing is true, that Adolf may have long ago escaped by submarine to Spain and that Franco is putting him up in a castle where he's sketching plans for Truman about getting the Russians back to Russia. But one thing is beyond doubt--the deep-down feeling of defeat, the certainty of our being at the mercy of the victors."

Harrowing stories of rape

"There is something strange in the air, though, something I can't put my finger on, something evil, menacing."

From the other side of the divide ...

These days I keep noticing how my feelings towards men -- and the feelings of all the other women -- are changing. We feel sorry for them; they seem so miserable and powerless. The weaker sex. Deep down we women are experiencing a kind of collective disappointment. The Nazi world -- ruled by men, glorifying the strong man -- is beginning to crumble and with it the myth of 'Man'.

The past or the future?

"S. genuinely believes that salvation is at hand, and that 'that man' (as we now call A.H.) knows exactly what he's doing. Whenever he talks the people sitting nearby exchange silent, meaningful glances. No one challenges S. Who wants to argue with a madman? ...the concierge's wife ... is fervent in her support, pronouncing ... you can count on 'that man' as if he were God himself."