Read Online Crimes Unspoken The Rape of German Women at the End of the Second World War Miriam Gebhardt Nick Somers Books
Download As PDF : Crimes Unspoken The Rape of German Women at the End of the Second World War Miriam Gebhardt Nick Somers Books
The soldiers who occupied Germany after the Second World War were not only liberators they also brought with them a new threat, as women throughout the country became victims of sexual violence. In this disturbing and carefully researched book, the historian Miriam Gebhardt reveals for the first time the scale of this human tragedy, which continued long after the hostilities had ended.
Discussion in recent years of the rape of German women committed at the end of the war has focused almost exclusively on the crimes committed by Soviet soldiers, but Gebhardt shows that this picture is misleading. Crimes were committed as much by the Western Allies - American, French and British - as by the members of the Red Army, and they occurred not only in Berlin but throughout Germany. Nor was the suffering limited to the immediate aftermath of the war. Gebhardt powerfully recounts how raped women continued to be the victims of doctors, who arbitrarily granted or refused abortions, welfare workers, who put pregnant women in homes, and wider society, which even today prefers to ignore these crimes.
Crimes Unspoken is the first historical account to expose the true extent of sexual violence in Germany at the end of the war, offering valuable new insight into a key period of 20th century history.
Read Online Crimes Unspoken The Rape of German Women at the End of the Second World War Miriam Gebhardt Nick Somers Books
"Regardless of whose numbers are correct or not, the disturbing fact remains that these crimes occurred and not just in the Russian zone of occupation, but in ALL of the zones (American, British and French) - this book makes you re-think what you know about the decade after World War II."
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Crimes Unspoken The Rape of German Women at the End of the Second World War Miriam Gebhardt Nick Somers Books Reviews :
Crimes Unspoken The Rape of German Women at the End of the Second World War Miriam Gebhardt Nick Somers Books Reviews
- The soldiers who liberated Germany after WW2 were not only liberators, but were also guilty of the crime of rape. Some 860000 German women were raped afetr the war not only by Russians, but also by the American, British and French soldiers.These women were foun d not only in Berlin, but throughout all of Germany. To be more precise, at least 190000 of them were raped by the Western Allies. This is only part of the story, because the rest of the book shows to what extent these raped victims suffered even more, since doctors refused to allow them abortions, social workers denigraded them , jurists refused compensation and their neighbours gossiped about their bad reputation. The result was that there were many women who did not have the strength to continue living. There were rumours of hundreds of women who committed suicide not only in Berlin but also in Upper Bavarian villages. These were particularly young girls, religious and elderly women. Others had what would be called today PTSD.
In this short and excellently researched book, which has five parts, the author shows to what extent the bestiality of the human species can burst out , no matter where the criminals come from. Highly recommeded. - Very well written and documented. The book was also an eye-opener, as I (and with me a lot of people) always had thought that the rapes were done bij Russian soldiers; now I read that the American soldiers were also guilty on a large scale
- Lots of info uncovered
- Regardless of whose numbers are correct or not, the disturbing fact remains that these crimes occurred and not just in the Russian zone of occupation, but in ALL of the zones (American, British and French) - this book makes you re-think what you know about the decade after World War II.
- Sherman famously stated that, "War is hell", and certainly the victims of war lie far beyond the battlefield. In this book, Gebhardt discusses an often hard to discuss topic - the sexual abuse of women (and as she discusses, also men and boys) in occupied Germany after WWII. There were many reasons for post-war sexual violence, and Gebhardt discusses how the breakdown of society, a desire for vengeance, and the general total lawlessness of the country led to an environment where these things happened. In truth, there is no one real reason, but it is obvious that enforcement of any sort of law was near impossible in this environment. There were trials for some rapists, but Gebhardt estimates that these were rare in comparison to the actual number of rapes being committed.
The only place the book fell a little short was in the thesis trying to essentially morally compare the rape by Soviet soldiers to what was going on in the West (British and American soldiers). I can certainly buy that post-war propaganda would lead to sexual crimes of American soldiers being hidden while the Soviet crimes were more openly discussed. But much of what I got from reading her book to prove this thesis was "back of the envelope" calculation of how many rapes actually occurred, and anecdotes from victims of rape by American and British soldiers.
While I may quibble with some of her numbers, the awareness of these crimes is important today, especially when we consider atrocities such as abu ghraib. The book is an important read and recommended. - I think it is fairly well known that there was a lot of rape committed by Soviet troops as they crossed into Germany and seized areas of the east. But what I think has been lacking is the knowledge that Americans, French and British troops were just as responsible in their respective zones as the Soviets were in theirs.
This book looks at the historical record and tries to identify and explain why such mass rape happened and why the civilian population was unable to stop, as well as the lasting damage done to German women in the post was decades. The damage was terrible and there are women still alive who suffer from the effects of rapes that occurred many decades ago.
While there is never justification for rape, it could almost be understood of the Soviets and the French. The Germans had invaded their homelands and committed the same crimes there, so there was sort of a justification of revenge and returning to Germany some of what had happened in their respective countries. Again, not that this is right, but war does strange things to people. But what about the Americans and British. The Americans never came close to having their country invaded and the British suffered bombing, but no actual presence of German soldiers.
The author answers up what information she can provide and tries to determine why this happened. There are numerous theories, none of which I really buy, but the author tries. She also explains the terrible position of German women from the end of the war to the end of occupation over a decade later. The German police had to ability to confront people identified as rapists and the various countries didn't really pursue punishment in any great way. In the beginning, the Americans held trails for less than 400 men, and of those about 45 were executed (interestingly the majority of the executions were of African Americans), while the rest were sentenced to life at hard labor. That seems good, but by her estimate, over the 4 zones created following the war, some roughly 880,000 rapes occurred.
The book is fascinating and should be read by anyone who studies World War II, but also by anyone with an interest in historical issues or women's issues.
