The Big Rape

The Big Rape: A Historical Novel of the Fall of Berlin was first published in 1952 by Esquire's war correspondent James Wakefield Burke (1904-1989). The book, historically accurate in terms of place and events, is a fictional account of a German woman - Lilo Markgraf - in Nazi Germany, and traces the fall of Berlin to the Russians, and the subsequent widespread rape and debauchery the Red Army soldiers inflicted on the populace. At first, Lilo is an ardent nationalist and in love with a German soldier, but following the rape of her mother and her younger sister by Russian soldiers, Lilo returns from a small town to Berlin to attempt her revenge. She later becomes the mistress of a Soviet NKVD officer, taking advantage of the protection and benefits he can provide her. Finally, with the coming of the Americans in their occupied portion of Berlin, she attempts to plan her future.