This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Burds, J. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Sexual Violence in Europe in World War II, 1939—1945

Northeastern University in Boston, j.burds{at}neu.edu

Focusing in particular on the German-Soviet war in the East, this article explores variations in patterns of sexual violence associated with armed forces in Europe during and immediately after World War II. Besides soldier violence perpetrated against civilian populations, a significant role was also played by irregular forces: most notably, by partisan guerrillas and civilian vigilantes. Ethnic nationalist partisan forces perpetrated especially brutal sexual violence against women and girls of "enemy" nationalities. Likewise, after liberation civilian reprisals were fairly common throughout Europe against so-called "sexual collaborators"—that is, against women excoriated for providing "sexual comfort" to the enemy during the German occupation.

Key Words: World War II • gender • violence • rape • sexual violence • Europe • Soviet Union • Germany

Politics & Society, Vol. 37, No. 1, 35-73 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1059601108329751


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?