OBSESSIONS OF BERLIN
Russians began looking for strayed German soldiers; systematically, house
by house, block by block. Nights, they returned to be rewarded for
their day's troubles. The dead women, sprawling on the streets with
their throats cut from ear to ear, served as a terrible reminder not to
refuse the victors. The soldiers took what they found, regardless of age.
Years without furloughs, years of war and nothing but war, had given
them a great and indiscriminate appetite. Lucky the woman who aroused
the fancy of an officer who would take charge of her and thus protect
her from the mob. For others there was just the command "stay down
.... comrade comes." It was like in an army brothel; only the ex–
perience was missing, and the husband looked on, and the children were
not spared. And there was always the fear of death.
If
the lights sud–
denly went out, the Russian might start shooting.
If
the lights suddenly
went on, he might also shoot, always suspicious of being trapped, of
being tricked, of being surprised by a god-damned German swine.
Of c;:ourse there are also other stories; stories of the kind Russian
soldier who stopped in his fight just to help an old lady cross the street.
Stories of the crying Russian soldier killing an old couple to end their
useless and hopeless misery. Of the baby-lover, forcing a can of milk down
the throat of a terrified child. Of those that took from one German to
give to another. Of the Commissar killing the rapist on the spot, and the
officer belaboring the plunderer with his saber. ·No doubt, these stories
are as true as the cruel ones. But the unpredictability of the Russians'
behavior merely increased the fear. Life and death depended on their
caprices; it gave the terror a particularly bitter flavor. And when all is
said, there remains the fact that within two months Berlin was thoroughly
plundered. What was not securely hidden had been taken, most of the
women had been mishandled, and the majority of the population had
been reduced to paupers.
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Apparently it was true that the soldiers had lost their discipline. Long
after the battle searching parties continued to look in the basements and
ruins. They looked no longer for Nazis but for Russians. And they have
been looking for deserters ever since; most of the
Razzias
that take
place in Berlin have as their first objective the hunt for former Rus–
sian soldiers. Troops were shifted, the Mongolians retreated to the hinter–
land; new soldiers arrived. Too late for the great show they were now
forced to buy their women with bread and their bicycles with worthless
vouchers and German Marks they had picked up in banks and post–
offices.
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