A Woman in Berlin

Based on an anonymous diarist's account, a German journalist survives the fall of Berlin by forming a protective liaison with a Soviet officer amid widespread sexual violence against women in the conquered city. The film unflinchingly portrays the trauma endured by German civilian women as Soviet troops occupied the capital. It also explores complex questions of survival, agency, and shame.

As Soviet forces captured Berlin in the war's final weeks, historians estimate tens of thousands to potentially over a hundred thousand German women were raped by occupying soldiers, an atrocity long suppressed in both East and West German postwar discourse. The anonymous diary on which the film is based was first published in the 1950s and republished to renewed attention in 2003.

The film is based on a real, though anonymously authored, diary whose authenticity was historically debated but is now generally accepted by scholars as a genuine account.

Soviet fronts broke through at the Seelow Heights and fought into the centre of the German capital, ending the war in Europe.

The city was defended by remnants of army units, Volkssturm and Hitler Youth. Hitler killed himself in the Führerbunker on 30 April; the garrison surrendered on 2 May and Germany capitulated unconditionally on 8 May.

Directed by Max Färberböck

Cast: Nina Hoss, Yevgeni Sidikhin, Irm Hermann

Positioned at April-June 1945 within the Fall of Berlin phase of the war, as part of the Battle of Berlin. This is entry 144 of 150 in the chronological archive.

• Battle of Berlin
• Soviet occupation
• wartime sexual violence
• civilian trauma
• diary

• 

  Downfall

  April 20 - May 2, 1945

• 

  The Fall of Berlin

  April-May 1945

• 

  Stalingrad

  August 1942 – February 1943

• 

  The Bridge

  April 1945

• 

  1939 Battle of Westerplatte

  1–7 September 1939

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  Westerplatte

  1–7 September 1939