A Woman in Berlin. With an Introduction by C.W. Ceram [Kurt W. Marek]. Translated from the German by James Stern.

[ Hillers, Marta.] ]

Published by New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, [1954].

About this Item

A Woman in Berlin collects the journal entries written by journalist Marta Hillers between April 20 and June 22, 1945. During those eight weeks, she endured the Red Army occupation during and after the Battle of Berlin. Hillers recounts the mass rape, starvation, and forced prostitution that she and other German women faced during the occupation. The present work is an unflinching firsthand account of the brutality of the Battle of Berlin and its disastrous effects on the some hundred thousand civilian women raped during the Red Army occupation. In the preface to the 2003 German edition, Hans Magnus Enzensberger wrote, ÒGerman readers were obviously not ready to face some uncomfortable truths. German women were not supposed to talk about the reality of rapes; and German men preferred not to be seen as impotent onlookers when the victorious Russians claimed their spoils of war. The author's attitude was an aggravating factor: devoid of self-pity, with a clear-eyed view of her compatriots' behavior before and after the Nazi regimeÕs collapse, everything she wrote flew in the face of the reigning post-war complacency and amnesia.Ó Octavo. 319 pp. PublisherÕs teal cloth. Minor sunning to spine. Otherwise, a fine copy in the near-fine original dust jacket. First edition, which precedes the British edition by a year. The German edition (Ein Frau in Berlin) was not published until 1959, and was the last edition published in Marta HillersÕ (1911 Ð 2001) lifetime. After the vitriolic response to the bookÕs German publication, Hillers refused to print further editions. Hillers was educated in Germany and at the Sorbonne. As a journalist, she traveled across Europe and into the Soviet Union. She spoke French and Russian along with her native German. Though she counted among her friends the archaeologist, author, and former Nazi Party propagandist Kurt W. Marek (1915 Ð 1972), Hillers was likely not a member of the party. Seller Inventory # 17480

Bibliographic Details

Title: A Woman in Berlin. With an Introduction by ...

Publisher: New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, [1954].

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

Edition: 1st Edition