[Wearever]

It's not as bad as it was in other places like Koeningsberg, it was the waiting that was hard. I think Berlin was the prize but they also knew the war was finished when the russians came. The author knew some russian and had visited russia before the war. She had insight into how they lived, she talks about her conversations with them in her apartment. It was kind of a hangout because they felt comfortable there. She also used some of them as protectors. The women all talked about what happened to them at the water pump once a day. They were very open about it, and I think that helped them control the narrative , they joked about it like gallows humor. This helped them cope. The only thing they could control was how they saw themselves and it helped. They made fun of them amongst themselves.