Victims, Heroes, Survivors : Sexual Violence On The Eastern Front During World War II

Abstract: The German military, Red Army, and partisans inflicted a massive amount of sexual violence onto unarmed civilians on the eastern front during World War II. Under the German occupation, civilians were driven into prostitutional relationships and prostitution, which caused widespread venereal disease. The Germans established military brothels and forced females to serve, indirectly by starvation or directly by gunpoint. Unarmed civilians were raped, mutilated, and often died. Abuse of alcohol was widespread among perpetrators from all sides. The wide variety of sexual activities lie on a continuum of sexual desire and sexuality. These activities and abuses of power often were motivated partially by sexual desire, including brothel visits, prostitutional relationships, rape, and sexual harassment. The sexual crimes were crimes of gender that intersect with other war crimes. Violations of racial laws by Germans were widespread. The Soviets also seem to have raped indiscriminately. Both sides raped females, whether Jewish, Slavic, Christian, or Baltic. The Germans recruited this same variety of females into their brothels. Males also suffered sexual abuse, and some perpetrators, especially in camps, were female. Rape likely was not a military strategy. However, both leaderships were complicit in their condoning of mass rape. Both have yet to accept responsibility for the rapes, and the Germans for their extensive system of sexual slavery. Neither side was prosecuted after the war for the vast sexual crimes they committed. Those targeted for sexual violence demonstrated incredible fortitude and innovation by camouflage, other acts of deception, and heroic acts of self-sacrifice. During the last half century, many survivors slowly and courageously revealed their stories in various ways. Although felt, the shame many victims and survivors have experienced is misplaced. It belongs instead to the perpetrators in all their civilian, political, and military forms. The long-standing, deafening, and pervasive silence surrounding the topic of sexual violence has served well the perpetrators and others inclined to disbelief. Despite the abundance of documentation - in German and east European documents, memoirs, testimonies, and novels - scholars, witnesses, and officials chose to ignore these crimes. This dissertation is also based on dozens of interviews conducted by the author.