April Book Club - A Woman in Berlin by Anonymous


On 20 April 1945 the Second World war came to the streets of a battered Berlin in earnest.

Allied bombing and Russian bombardment was replaced by the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops. Many of them then began to wreak havoc on the surviving citizens of the capital city of the Third Reich.

It was the women of Berlin who suffered most. Hunger and deprivation might have been expected but it was the almost systematic rape of thousands of women, of all ages, that was the most horrifying element of the occupation.

One of the victims of repeated rapes, a young German woman with a very basic command of Russian and a journalistic background, began to keep a diary.

This was published anonymously in 1953 to a deafening silence. Eight years after the end of the war Germans did not want to learn of, or be reminded of, the violent and unsavoury aftermath of the conflict. It took fifty years before the diary found a sizeable audience as ‘A Woman in Berlin’ by Anonymous.

Our Book Club members this month were journalist Noirin Hegarty, Irish Times foreign editor, Denis Staunton, and Susan McKay of the National Women's Council.


A Woman in Berlin by Anonymous is published by Virago Press

My Lagan Love

My Lagan Love is a well known tune which dates back to the early 1900s has not only become part of this country’s repertoire but it has also travelled the world.

Nuala O’Connor traces its origins and explores how it has changed and adapted over the past century.

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera

The 21st of August, 1929 marked the wedding day of two lovers. He was aged 42. She was half his age.

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera would become two of Mexico’s most famous people – not only because they were talented artists but they had an incredibly stormy and passionate relationship.

An exhibition of their work is now on at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin. Gerry Mullins came in to talk about them – and their Irish connection.

Details:
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera: Masterpieces of the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection. 6 April - 26 June 2011
Irish Museum of Modern Art at Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin 8.
Admission: €5.00 Concession: €3.00 Admission Free to all on Fridays.
Admission Free for under-18s, those in full-time education, those on organised Museum programmes and IMMA Members.


400th Anniversary of the King James Bible

This year marks the 400th anniversary of the King James version of The Bible.

From 3pm today until 6pm on Thursday, a Bible Reading Marathon is taking place at All Saints’ Church, Raheny to celebrate this anniversary.

Carol Conway who’s part of the organising committee for this event talked to Myles about why the King James Bible is so significant.