The right (way) to represent : the emotional politics of remembering mass rape in Germany after 1945

A Woman in Berlin (1954) has undoubtedly shaped global understanding of wartime rape. The present article focusses on the diarist’s use of humor to process her disorientation, assert her subjectivity, and build affective links with other victims. I consider how the diary’s tone influenced its reception and thus how aesthetic analysis might illuminate the conditions under which stories about sexual violence become audible, as well as the ways in which the “cultural politics of emotion” (to quote the title of Sarah Ahmed’s 2004 study) can both foster and obstruct human rights projects