Sexual Violence under Occupation during World War II: Soviet Women's Experiences inside a German Military Brothel and Beyond

Abstract

O n C h r i s t m a s E v E 1942 , in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, a soldiers’ brothel opened its doors for business.1 Set up and run by the occupying German army (the Wehrmacht), this establishment provided military men a place to pay for a brief sexual encounter with a local woman. These women were Soviet civilians who had been living under German control since the summer of 1942, when the Wehrmacht occupied Southern Russia on its way to the oil fields of the Caucasus and the city of Stalingrad. Prior to this, Rostov residents had also lived through a brief, failed German occupation, which lasted less than ten days in late November 1941. The second, more substantial occupation of the city began in late July 1942 and continued until early February 1943. From the moment the German occupiers returned to Rostov-on-Don, women were exposed to a particular, gendered threat. They were attacked indiscriminately on the street or in their homes throughout the duration of the occupation, forced to perform unwanted sexual acts. Women were also