Evelyn Blucher
Evelyn, Princess Blücher (1876–1960)
At the onset of World War I, Evelyn's English nationality and alliances became complicated. Years before, she had married a German Prince. Now, her homeland and the Empire she married into were at war.
To make matters worse, the closure of the German embassy in London forced Blücher to return to Germany. During the war, she resided with her husband in Berlin and at the family estate in Silesia, now Poland.
Exiled from her family in England, Princess Blücher began to keep a day-to-day account for her mother. Her descriptions of the local life and conditions became the basis of her memoirs. In them, Blücher offers an account of the last weeks of the German Empire from the perspective of the aristocracy.
The memoirs also describe Blücher's personal conflict, reconciling her sympathies for the English and her husband's role as the commander of a hospital train for the Silesian Order of Malta.
In the text below, Blücher describes being questioned about her statements regarding the German treatment of prisoners of war. This excerpt is from: Blücher, Evelyn. An English Wife in Berlin: A Private Memoir of Events, Politics, and Daily Life in Germany Throughout the War and the Social Revolution of 1918 / by Evelyn, Princess Blücher. London: Constable and company ltd., 1920. SpC. 940.482 B658e1920