| The home of independent thinking | |||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
"Miriam
Gebhardt has uncovered swathes of new evidence relating to the rape of
German women in the US Zone of Occupation. Her book adds a further
dimension to our knowledge of life in Germany in the immediate
aftermath of the war." - Giles MacDonogh, historian and
author
"Miriam Gebhardt's study is not the first that explores the
experiences of circa 860.000 German women, who were raped by Allied
soldiers in the aftermath of the Second World. But it shifts the focus
from the notorious mass rape of Soviet soldiers to the members of the
American, British and French forces and estimates that at least 190.000
German women experienced sexual violence by them. With her excellent
study she thus challenges the common picture of the 'honourable'
Western allied armies."- Karen Hagemann, University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill
"A harrowing and highly recommended work of scholarship."- Times Higher Education Supplement
"A meticulous and fascinating study into the victims of World
War II who are rarely considered, much less written about." - History of War
Miriam Gebhardt is an historian and journalist who teaches at the University of Konstanz.
Crimes Unspoken: The Rape of German Women at the Endof the Second World War (English Edition) 1. Auflage, Kindle Edition |
 |
© Polity
The soldiers who occupied Germany at the end of the Second World War came not only as liberators but also brought a new threat. Women throughout the country became victims of sexual violence. In this troubling, meticulously researched book, historian Miriam Gebhardt examines the true scale of this human tragedy, which continued long after the fighting ended.
In recent years, discussions of the rape of German women at the end of the war have focused largely on crimes committed by Soviet soldiers. Gebhardt shows, however, that this picture is incomplete and misleading. Sexual violence was also perpetrated by troops of the Western Allies — Americans, French and British — and occurred throughout Germany, not only in Berlin.
The victims' suffering did not end with the war. Gebhardt describes how women who had been raped remained vulnerable to doctors who made arbitrary decisions about abortion, social workers who placed pregnant women in institutions, and a society that preferred to ignore these crimes and stigmatise the victims. Many of these problems persist today.
Crimes Unspoken is a major historical study that illuminates the extent of sexual violence in Germany at the end of the war and makes an important contribution to our understanding of a crucial period in twentieth-century history.
