Leaving Germany to return to Paris, Lee Miller suffered a serious psychological breakdown also influenced by her use of amphetamines, alcohol and sleeping pills. But she continued to travel relentlessly and arrived in Vienna, a devastated city, whose population is in an advanced state of malnutrition, food is rationed and there is a serious shortage of medicines and health supplies.
The end of the war is a moment of bitter disillusionment for Lee as she realized that peace had not brought forward the high human ideals for which it had been fought. On the contrary, the world was still dominated by the self-interest of criminals and corrupt politicians. At that moment everything seemed useless to her.
She left for Hungary and then headed to Romania, where she witnessed the new political climate, but something in her was changing: Lee Miller had managed to survive the harsh reality of war thanks to writing and photography – since they have allowed her to free herself from the terrible monsters that populate her mind – but now that it was all over, she felt deprived of new stimuli.
Lee was in an emotionally fragile state, appearing exhausted, with no apparent direction. Only a cable saying “Go home”, sent by David E. Scherman, convinced her to return to London.