A Woman in Berlin

One problem for us washerwomen is how to use the toilet. The place is so awful you can barely set foot inside. We tried cleaning it out with our laundry water the first day, but the pipes are clogged. Moreover there are always Russians lurking around. So now two of us stand watch at either end of the corridor while the third uses the toilet. We always take along our soap and brushes, since otherwise they disappear.

At noon we spent an hour lingering at our upturned-drawer dining table, enjoyed the sun, ate rich soup and took a nap. Then we went back to washing, and washed and washed. We were soaked with sweat by 7 p.m. when we headed home, once again sneaking out of the side entrance.

A bath at home, a nice dress, a quiet evening did some good. I have to think about things. Our spiritual need is great. We’re waiting for some heartfelt word, something that would touch us, some declaration that would bring us back into the stream of life. Our hearts have run dry, they’re hungry for what the Catholic Church calls ‘manna for the soul’. I think I’d like to find a church next Sunday, if I get the day off and if they’re having services. I’d like to see whether churchgoers are finding manna like that. Those of us who don’t belong to any church have to suffer alone in the darkness. The future weighs on us like lead. All I can do is brace myself for what’s to come, and try to keep my inner flame alive. But why? What for? What task awaits me? I feel so hopelessly alone.

TUESDAY, 29 MAY 1945

Another washday, long and hot. This time it was positively raining trousers and tunics. One tunic disappeared off the line, apparently a particularly fine item that belonged to an officer. The idea that one of us might have filched the thing didn’t occur to anyone, not even the man who was robbed. The men let out the inevitable hue and cry, but it was clear they accepted the theft as a natural occurrence. Thieving has deep roots among these people. Back when I was travelling in Russia I was robbed of nearly everything that could be stolen, especially during the first part of my stay: my purse, briefcase, coat, gloves, alarm clock, even the stockings I’d hung in the bathroom to dry. One time I was in an office with three other people. I bent down for a moment to open a drawer and look for a photo, and when I turned back again I saw that someone had taken my pair of scissors. It had to be one of the three of them all friendly, well-mannered clerks. I didn’t dare say anything; I simply poked around the desk some more, my face blushing instead of the thief’s, while they calmly went about their business. To this day I don’t know which one it could have been. I only know that ordinary Russians couldn’t find scissors like that in the stores. No doubt about it; poverty breeds theft, it’s catching on here as well. But the Russians have their own style, a kind of innocent approach, as if stealing were something completely acceptable. That’s just the way it is, what can you do about it?

The men paid court to us all day long with their repeated proposition: ‘Bacon and eggs, sleep at your home.’ One of them kept following me around. He showed me a German 20-mark bill on the sly, and laid another one on top, as a promise, if I’d step in the shed with him, real quick, and… He’d already made the same offer to little Gerti.

Today we had a Russian woman washing alongside us, the wife or girlfriend of a captain, a busty blonde. She was washing some men’s shirts made of rayon, humming a German hit she’d probably picked up from a record. Gerti and our fellow launderer – both with perfect pitch – sang along. The Russian woman smiled at us. The atmosphere was friendly.

It’s sunny and breezy outside – nice weather for drying. Most of the Russians were dozing in the yard. For a while no one came to pinch or pester us. We just went on washing. Somehow our talk shifted to poetry. It turns out that Gerti knows half of her school reader by heart. I joined in, and for a while you could hear poems by Mörike, Eichendorff, Lenau and Goethe – all declaimed over the washtubs. Eyes down, Gerti recited: ‘Just wait, for soon/ you, too, will rest.’ Then she sighed and said, ‘If only that were true.’ Our fellow washer shook her head. She’s more than twice little Gerti’s age, but dying is the last thing on her mind. Her constant refrain: ‘Everything passes, time goes by.’