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The Greatest Mass Rape in History
One of this century's greatest crimes, and probably one of the greatest crimes against women in history, was the mass rape of the conquered women of Europe in 1945. The rapists were mainly Red Army soldiers, some of them non-White troops from the Far East and Central Asian Republics of the Soviet Union.
As the Red Army advanced toward her in 1945, the city of Berlin had become a city virtually without men. Out of a civilian population of 2,700,000, 2,000,000 were women.
Former Soviet war correspondent Natalya Gesse recalled: "The Russian soldiers were raping every German female from eight to 80... It was an army of rapists."
The rape victims were not just Germans. Polish women also suffered. So did young Russian, Belorussian and Ukrainian women who had been sent back to Germany by the Wehrmacht for slave labor.
As Author Antony Beevor put it,
"If anything, the events of 1945 reveal how thin the veneer of civilization can be when there is little fear of retribution."
Photos
The National Archives
The Library of Congress
Film Clips: Official and Amateur footage
Vincent Romano Archives
http://www.webalice.it/romanoarchives/
Aduio Clip: BBC4 The Woman's Hour "War Rape"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshou...
Music
Hagia Sophia
Star of the Winds
IRFAN
http://www.myspace.com/irfantheband
Come Tenderness
Lisa Gerrard
http://www.lisagerrard.com/
conceived and produced by
Dale Caruso
to learn more;
Berlin: The Downfall 1945
Antony Beevor
http://www.antonybeevor.com/
Tags:
WWII
German
Soviet
War
Crimes
Rape
Brutality
Horrors
of
War
Added: 25th September 2008
Views: 183
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Posted By: dalecaruso |
 
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