Agnieszka’s Reviews > A Woman in Berlin > Status Update

Of course , if you believe that the earthy sum of tears is fixed and immutable , then you’re not very well cut out to improve the world or to act any kind of grand scale .

And so the balance is maintained: well-fed nations wallow in neurosis and excesses , while people plagued with suffering , as we are now , may rely on numbness and apathy to help see them through- if not for that I’d be weeping morning, noon and night .But I’m not crying and neither is anyone else , and the fact that we aren’t is all part of natural law .

…by insisting ‘that the sum total of tears always stays the same ‘ – i.e. in every nation of the world , no matter what flag or system of government , no matter which gods are worshipped or what the average income is , the sum total of tears , pain and fear that every person must pay for his existence is a constant .

What about me ? Was I for … or against ? What’s clear is that I was there , that I breathed what was in the air , and it affected all of us even if we didn’t want it to .

All around is desolation, a wasteland , not a breath of life . This is the carcass of Berlin .

Poor words , you do not suffice .

Apparently they’ve taken Berlin by sea as well.

These days I keep noticing how my feelings towards men-and the feelings of all the other women-are changing. We feel sorry for them; they seem so miserable and powerless. The weaker sex. Deep down we women are experiencing a kind of collective disappointment . The Nazi world – ruled by men, glorifying the strong men – is beginning to crumble, and with it the myth of “Man”.

We’re suddenly mere individuals , no longer members of the tribe , the German Nation . Old ties are broken ; friendship don’t extend further than three buildings away. There’s only the group of us , huddled in the cave , a clan , just like in prehistoric times . The horizon has shrunk to three hundred paces .

At the moment we’re marching in time . Cave dwellers.