Читаем Berlin полностью

Aware that rape was inflaming German hatred of the Russian army, the Soviet command made efforts to contain the plague after June 1945, going so far as to execute some offenders. The wave of rapine receded somewhat, but the problem did not go away, for each successive contingent of occupation troops wanted to experience the delights of their predecessors upon encountering the fabled Western metropolis. In any event, the Soviets’ belated effort to cultivate an image of “Russian-German friendship” by disciplining their troops did not succeed: memories of the initial occupation were too powerful. Ruth Andreas-Friedrich adumbrated the problem when she wrote on May 29, 1945: “Russia is large. Russia is young, powerful and creative. During the last months under the Nazis nearly all of us were pro-Russian. We waited for the light from the East. But it has burned too many. Too much has happened that cannot be understood. The dark streets still resonate every night with the piercing screams of women in distress. The plundering and shooting, the insecurity and violence aren’t over yet.”

Central Berlin in ruins, 1945

While Red Army soldiers focused their attention on rape and petty thievery, the Soviet command scoured Berlin for more substantial loot. Stalin’s regime was determined to cart away as much industrial and technical equipment as it could, whether or not it was actually usable back home. German workers who had kept the plants running during the war were now forced to help the Soviets dismantle them. The task was huge, for a surprisingly large quantity of machinery had survived the bombing and shelling. In a matter of weeks the Soviets managed to accomplish what the bombs could not: eliminate Berlin as a great industrial city. Between the collapse of Germany in May 1945 and the autumn of that year the Russians removed some 80 percent of Berlin’s machine-tool production, 60 percent of its light industrial capacity, and much of its electrical generating capability. Generators from the great Siemens, Borsig, and AEG plants went off to Russia, along with technicians and engineers who “volunteered” to work in Soviet industrial towns. Berlin of course would eventually build new power plants and industrial enterprises, subsidized after 1949 by West Germany, but it would never again be a great manufacturing center or hold the distinction of being Germany’s Fabrikstadt par excellence.