Des livres sur l'horreur de l'avancée russe en Allemagne, j'en ai lu un certain nombre, mais celui-ci est particulier, l'histoire d'une survie, dans pathos, ni effets. ( )

tells the truth about what happens to women and non-combatants in war. ( )

A terrific WWII story about a woman surviving however she can when Russian troops invaded Berlin. It isnt a pretty story but one that is very important. ( )

4106 A Woman in Berlin Eight Weeks in the Conquered City A Diary, by Anonymous translated by Philip Boehm (read 15 Dec 2005) This is a diary of a German woman in Berlin covering the time there from April 20, 1945, to June 16, 1945. It is not a fun read, telling of a horrendous time especially for women in Berlin, and was well worth reading. ( )

The story starts out with a woman who is living in a friend's apartment in Berlin since her own place was destroyed by the air raides.
The time line is from April 20, 1945 to Mid-Late June 1945. The woman who wrote the diary was a journalist in Berlin before and after the war. It's been documented that the diary is not a fake and has been authenticated. This alone makes the story feel more real. And knowing what happened in World War II, Hitler's madness, control and destruction - this sheds new light on some of the actual people of Berlin, an insight if you will, on how some of the German people felt about the fall of Germany to the Allied troops.
I was never one to think about the individual people who are left in the cities that have been invaded, but after reading this, I will think of them - the elderly, women and children. Knowing that in all war, there is rape and pillage going on with the areas invaded - but to have a real account of it, makes one think twice about war.
The author talks about the concentration camps that are found and liberated, how the people there were killed and used as fertilizer, soaps, matress stuffing etc. All the while she writes with a sort of coldness, like she is a witness to the things going on around her. That she has had to become cold to survive - and survive she did.

Well worth the read, an interesting and thought provoking book! ( )