A Woman in Berlin
An anonymous diary of a woman's survival in Berlin during the Soviet occupation of 1945. The diarist was identified after her death as journalist Marta Hillers.
- Original byline
- Anonymous
- Published
- 1954
- Form
- Memoirs
- Authorship
- Revealed: Marta Hillers
- Attribution source
- Wikidata P50 (Q1306356)
- Revealed
- 2003, identified posthumously by a journalist, two years after the diarist's death
- Reason for anonymity
- Unrecorded
- Copyright
- Undetermined
- Reference
- Wikipedia · Wikidata
The authorship story
A Woman in Berlin records eight weeks in 1945 as the Red Army took the city, written in a dry, unsparing voice that made the book both admired and attacked when it appeared in the 1950s. The diarist published it anonymously and, after hostile German reception, refused reprints for decades. She died in 2001; in 2003 a journalist identified her as Marta Hillers, and the reissued book became an international bestseller. The case sits at the boundary this site is careful about: the author chose anonymity in life, and the identification that stands in the record was made posthumously.
Questions readers ask
Who wrote A Woman in Berlin?
A Woman in Berlin was published anonymously and is documented as the work of Marta Hillers. The authorship became public in 2003 (identified posthumously by a journalist, two years after the diarist's death). Source: Wikidata P50 (Q1306356).
Can I read A Woman in Berlin for free?
No. A Woman in Berlin is under copyright, so this site links to buy and borrow options instead of reproducing the text.
When was A Woman in Berlin published?
A Woman in Berlin was published in 1954 without an author’s name.
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