Page 460 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo II

1100 XXXIX Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

women from the German majority society precisely at the last days of the war, just while
the Red Army was entering the ruins of the Third Reich.
Surprisingly, in these records we do not stumble across very much of emphasis con-
cerning the experienced trauma: In their diaries, written while the incidents took place,
German women are very short with mentioning their own being raped. So, for example,
th
Clara W., who had Soviet soldiers staying in her house in Eastern Prussia. On the 20
of february 1945 she writes: „About 11pm they [the Soviet soldiers, kb] come back
and throw themselves onto the food. […] We have to accompany them, but I try to stay
in the darkness. They want to have conversations with us. One is Rumanian, he plays
harmonica finally, and the lieutenant starts to dance. The men get into mood, they send
Ms. H. and H.-D. to bed. I suspect something awful, what comes true. This night was
the worst of my life. With the first dawn, about 5.45 am, I can escape from the house.“ 10
Sometimes they sound even cynic, as for example Barbara W. who happened to be in
Berlin when the city was taken over by Soviet troops. On 27 of April 1945 she notes:
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“I just went to get some sugar from from G. In this moment two [soldiers, kb.] and take
me into a doorway. Put [me, kb] down and skirts up. It wasn’t nice, but expectable.” 11
And Herta von G. is even occupied with something else, when recording the expe-
th
riences of a fellow on 30 of April 1945, also in Berlin: „At H’s were Russians, they
called Ms. E into the house, one took her immediately into the basement. To thank her
he donated the whole shop to her. There wasn’t much in it, but she ran to us [and said
to us, kb]: Guys, one of you puts water onto the fire and the others come with me. We
didn’t know what was happening, but then found out. We got a big piece of meat, a huge
glass of marmelade, and other food. Finally it was decided to have a common kitchen“ 12
In all three quotations the female authors are quite astonishing in their very pragmatic
way of dealing with the traumatic incidents. The German historians Regina Mühlhäuser
and Susanne zur Nieden who have dealt with diaries from German women written in the
last days of the war explain the displayed manor by the women’s wish to furthermost
13
document the events and by their priority to get their lives organized in these days. Es-
pecially Mühlhäuser argues that for these women in these particular moments rape was
‘just’ percieved as one traumatic experience among others like the bombings, the search
for food and so on. One could say there was no time to be traumatized. And maybe, the
women refrained from going into details in order to not experience a re-traumatization
while taking diary notes. In any case, one can probably be sure that the trauma did come
later on. The memories of German women decades after the end of the war employ a very
different language. Here, rape is indeed described as a traumatic incident and it gets much

10 Walter-Kempowski-Biographien-Archiv, No. 4642, 11f. In accordance to the rules of the archive, the
women’s names are only given in an anonymous way. In most cases, the quotationss are translated by myself.
If not, it is made obvious.
11 Quotated in: Mühlhäuser, Vergewaltigungen, 389. Mühlhäuser quotes further women speaking in such a
manor about what has happended.
12 Walter-Kempowski-Biographien-Archiv, No. 3697, 20f.
13 Susanne zur Nieden, Alltag im Ausnahmezustand, Frauentagebücher im zerstörten Deutschland 1943 bis
1945 [Everyday-life in a state of emergency, Women‘s diaries in destroyed Germany 1943-1945], Berlin
1993; Mühlhäuser, Vergewaltigungen.