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Date 23.10.2008
C U LTU R E
Author DW staff (ai)
Movie Sheds Light on Forgotten PostWar Related Subjects World War II,
Rape Victims Women's rights, International
Women's Day, Russia's invasion of
Ukraine
For the first time, a German movie deals with rape victims in the aftermath of World War
Keywords Movie, PostWar, World
II. Coinciding with the release, a German university is investigating the trauma of the War II, Rape, Trauma, history, War,
victims. Victim, Women, Rubble Women,
Truemmerfrau
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The movie picks up a story long neglected in German postwar
history: The plight of rape victims in the aftermath of World War
II.
"A woman in Berlin" premiered at Septembers' film festival in
Toronto and is being released in theaters across Germany on
Thursday, Oct. 23.
The relationship with a Russian The movie is based on the autobiographical account of Marta
officer is the woman's only way to Hiller, a young woman in Berlin between the months of April and
protect herself
June in 1945. When the book was published anonymously in the
1950s, reactions were overwhelmingly negative.
From flop to bestseller
A republished edition hit the shelves only as late as 2003 two years after Hiller's death and
proved to be a bestseller.
The lead role is portrayed by German actress Nina
Hoss, playing the young woman as Soviet soldiers
entered Berlin in May 1945. She's raped several
times by Red Army soldiers until she eventually
enters into a relationship with a Russian officer to
shield herself from further attacks.
Rape victims in the aftermath of World War II
have long been a difficult chapter in German
With their men gone, women were left to pick up the pieces
history, especially in communist East Germany,
where any criticism of the Russian army was
impossible.
"For the first time the phenomenon of mass rapes at the end of the war is the subject of a German
movie," said JochenKonrad Fromme, a German parliamentarian and a member of Chancellor Angela
Merkel's Christian Democratic Union.
"That means that 63 years after the end of the war, the fate and suffering of hundreds of thousands of
German women is being acknowledged for the first time," he added.
Millions of victims
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Fromme added that historians estimate around
2 million women became victims of rape after
the war. Cases of sexual violence also occurred
in the western part of Germany under the Allied
forces, yet historians agree that the problem was
particularly acute under the Soviet army.
Coinciding with the release of the movie, the
University of Greifswald in northeastern
Actress Nina Hoss says her character 'went through hell'
Germany has launched a research project to
study the trauma of women raped during that
period.
Phillip Kuwert, who is heading the project, said that it will help to analyze the longterm psychological
effects. Better methods of treatment could then be developed for other conflict or war zones.
German newspapers have reacted with mixed reviews to "A woman in Berlin." Some critics are bashing
the filmmakers for treating the serious subject on a level way too trivial and sentimental. Others praise
the movie for bringing a chapter of German history to a wider audience which so far many people
have been illinformed about.
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