more Bombed in Berlin
Brian Geiger (bgeiger@POLISCI.UFL.EDU)
Tue, 14 Apr 1998 10:05:06 -0400
The book Kees Vanderheyden is referring to sounds like one I read several
years ago by a woman named, Marie Vassiltchikov. In the US, the book, her
memoir, was called, Berlin Diaries 1940-1945.
Here's the first paragraph of a New York Times book review dated 5 April
1987:
MARIE VASSILTCHIKOV was a White Russian princess who left Russia with her
parents in 1919 and grew up in Germany, France and independent Lithuania,
where her father had properties. She was at a friend's estate in Silesia
when war broke out in 1939. Since Lithuania became a Soviet sphere of
influence as a result of the revision of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, she found
herself cut off in a Germany at war. Almost penniless, but by no means
without resources since she had a wide range of friendships and aristocratic
connections, she went to Berlin with her sister Tatiana to see whether her
friends would help her get a job. This was a wise decision, for after an
approach to the United States Embassy had been unproductive, she found
work - thanks to the influence of a friend and her own proficiency in
English - in the Wireless Service, the German equivalent of the BBC. Later
she transferred to the Foreign Ministry, where her sister had found a
position and where she went to work in the Information Department,
collecting materials and photographs for propaganda purposes.
Vassiltchikov counted among her friends and associates a number of the group
involved in the plot to assassinate Hitler. Her connection to this drama is
fascinating, but her description of life in Berlin is equally compelling.
Brian Geiger
bgeiger@polisci.ufl.edu