Hello Lieutenants!
The Captain has a mission for those of you with an expertise and knowledge he doesn't have.
I remember watching a WWII documentary about the siege of Berlin during WWII. As the Russians approached and it was becoming very apparent the Germans would lose the war, Berliners in a weird psychological way started celebrating. NOT because the war would soon be over, but because they were doomed.
Nazi's would shoot people trying to escape and even if they did manage to escape the Russians would shoot them. So they were trapped and more or less forced to sit there and wait for the Russians to come.
Since there was nothing else they could do, they started throwing parties. I saw some eerie video of Germans drinking and partying away. Sometimes these parties would often end in suicide.
Now it's one thing for me to simply recall this documentary, it's another thing if one of you would be so kind refer me to a documented source or link that actually cites it. I've tried searching teh interwebz, but am having no luck.
Any historian economists out there?
Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, documents this kind of thing, I believe. For that matter, the Bible discusses the same kind of phenomenon in the time when the Babylonians are coming to conquer Jerusalem--"let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing it might have come from The World at War. I've been watching it and there's all kinds of footage from every aspect of the war in there.
ReplyDeleteI recall similar reports. Can't document any. Motives include using up luxury goods and meat before the Russians got there and stole it. German women were in mortal fear of rape and forced prostitution for the Russian Army. The book Ordinary Germans tells of the levels of information that common Germans had regarding German atrocities in occupied countries so they were certainly expecting to get as good as they were giving now that Germany was an occupied country. Suicide rates among German women in Berlin in the months after the fall were very high but were not documented. German doctors were complicit in falsifying death certificates so that the women were claimed as war casualties instead.
ReplyDeleteI knew a German woman with family in Berlin at that time. She mentioned that the worst atrocities were by the Eastern Soviets (mostly Mongol) and the Western and Urban Russian soldiers were more civilized in their treatment of civilians.
Most of the histories of the battle of Berlin focus on the military campaign and how civilians stripped all of the public parks of trees for firewood.
The other interesting stories are about people fleeing Berlin in order to surrender to the Western Allies. German forces in contact with the Americans and Brits continued fighting specifically to stay in proximity to the west so when the war eneded, they could surrender to Brits and Americans.
Talk about enjoying the freakin' decline...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.google.com/search?num=20&hl=en&safe=off&tbo=1&biw=1366&bih=643&tbs=bkv%3Ap&tbm=bks&q=berlin+russians&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=
ReplyDeleteYou might find something there.
I am afraid, I will not help you, but try "The World at War" BBC documentary from 70s. It had more than 20 episodes and might cover this topic.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I recommend this documentary.
I remember reading reading an autobiography of a German noblewoman from East Prussia.
ReplyDeleteShe fled west with her children, but on the estate they ate & drank like kings before they left. And gave everything to the tenant farmers who wanted to stay ( not that it helped THEM, they were all thrown out, raped or killed too)
The mother in law stayed and apparently committed suicide on the front steps when the Russians pulled up the drive.
You might as well eat, drink and be merry if you're going to die tomorrow.
This was a story about White Russian noblewoman in Bohemia who remembers doing pretty well the same thing there, before the final fall of the Reich. They weren't even trapped, but survival wasn't a good bet.
I believe you're thinking of episode 25 ("Reckoning") from the World at War documentary. I haven't seen the episode in a few years, but it lists statistics from Berlin regarding suicides and rape. Episode 21 might also have some information, but I'm sure it's 25 that you saw.
ReplyDeleteCaptain,
ReplyDeleteI can only offer up Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944 - 45 by Sir Max Hastings, which has written descriptions of at least one party like you describe thrown in Berlin where Eva Braun was present, and examples like Professor Hale cites:
http://www.amazon.com/Armageddon-Germany-1944-1945-Max-Hastings/dp/0375714227/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2
It is depicted in the movie Downfall.
ReplyDeleteBerliners said, enjoy the war, the peace will be terrible.
Perhaps:
ReplyDeleteThe Battle of Berlin (Schlact um Berlin), 1973
It was nominated for an academy award.
Although it isn't the documentary you are discussing, by far the most interesting account of this period is the book "A Woman in Berlin" http://www.amazon.com/Woman-Berlin-Eight-Conquered-City/dp/0805075402
ReplyDeleteIt's disturbing reading but very well done.
By far the best account I've read of this period is the book "A woman in Berlin" http://www.amazon.com/Woman-Berlin-Eight-Conquered-City/dp/0805075402
ReplyDeleteIt's very disturbing reading but incredibly well done.
Hey Captain,
ReplyDeleteThere's definitely a section in Albert Speer's "Inside the Third Reich" where he describes visiting bombed out cities and coming across the people in the ruins possessed by a sort of "maniacal levity" or "cheerfulness" in the face of the destruction.
I only have the German version of the book here in Berlin (my English copy is in California), but I could find the page number/section if you want.
Cheers,
Lucais Sewell
Hi Lucais,
ReplyDeleteheck yeah, if you find it scan it in or e-mail me the general gist of the text.
Cpt.
Third Reich: The Fall
ReplyDeleteThat was the documentary you were probably watching. (On the History Channel)