When this is over there will be a shot in the back of the head anyway. [WWII]

[**The following is in regards to sexual violence suffered by the German population during the early days of Soviet occupation at the end of World War II.**] >Another, born on 1928, described what she experienced: >>I counted them, there were eight Russians, yes… and I have to tell you, I did not cry, I didn’t do anything, I whimpered, yes, because I, back then one heard, rape and then a shot in the back of the head and I was incredibly afraid. Yes, and the first one, he had me quasi, they tore the clothes from my body, yes therefore I had nothing more on, nothing more at all… and the last one, he had me, and you know, I screamed, but afterwards I had no tears anymore, and the last one… then I thought how many more still are coming, and then I constantly thought and when this is over then there will be a shot in the back of the head anyway. >This, and not some heroic final struggle to inspire future generations, was the experience of tens of thousands of Berliners at the end of April 1945. _______________________ **Source:** Bessel, Richard. “The Last Days of the Reich.” *Germany 1945: From War to Peace*. New York, NY, HarperCollins, 2009. 118. Print. **Original Source Listed:** Interview quoted in Hoerning, ‘Frauen als Kriegsbeute’, p. 334.