Marta Hillers (May 26, 1911 – June 16, 2001) was a German journalist and the author of the memoir Eine Frau in Berlin (A Woman in Berlin), published anonymously in 1959 and 2003 in German. The memoir is a diary that spans from April 20 to June 22, 1945, during and after the Battle of Berlin. It details the author's harrowing experience of rape, set against the backdrop of mass rapes committed by occupying forces, and how she, like many other German women, sought protection by taking a Soviet officer as a protector.
The book was initially published in English in the United States in 1954. Upon its release in Germany in 1959, Hillers faced backlash and accusations of "besmirching the honor of German women." Consequently, she refused to allow further editions during her lifetime.
After marrying and relocating to Switzerland, Hillers left the field of journalism and did not publish any further significant works. She passed away in 2001.
A revised edition of Eine Frau in Berlin was published posthumously in Germany in 2003, once again anonymously. The book received widespread critical acclaim and remained on bestseller lists for several weeks. Although a literary editor eventually disclosed Hillers as the author, no alternative authorship has been proposed. New English editions were released in the UK and the US in 2005, along with translations in seven other languages.
The book was adapted into a film, released in Germany and Poland in 2008. In the United States, it is also known as A Woman in Berlin. Additionally, in 2008, the English translation by Philip Boehm (Virago, 2005) was dramatized as a one-woman monologue by playwright Iain McClure, and staged at the New Works, New Worlds Festival at the Arches Theatre, Glasgow, in 2009.