Authors: Daina S. Eglitis, Department of Sociology, The George Washington University - ORCID, ResearchGate

Abstract: »Allied accounts of the liberation of Jewish survivors of Nazi camps and forced marches near the end of World War II highlight the long-awaited release of prisoners from captivity and the threat of annihilation. Missing from most accounts, however, are the voices of women whose victimization did not end with the arrival of their liberators. This article examines the phenomenon of sexual violence at liberation, specifically, assaults committed by Soviet soldiers against Jewish women survivors of Nazi camps. It posits that most accounts of camp liberation contain a memory void, that is, a space in historical narratives that obscures events or actors that are an ill fit with the dominant collective memory. This work fills this gendered memory void with the voices of Jewish women survivors and witnesses and seeks to construct a more nuanced account of liberation in the East. It draws on testimonies and memoirs which reveal that sexual violence against Jewish survivors has commonalities and differences with the mass rapes committed by the Soviet army against non-Jewish German women. The voices of Jewish women confirm that Soviet troops often viewed the fact that women had survived Nazi persecution as evidence of complicity with the Nazis, fueling a thirst for revenge. Many Jewish women became victims of sexual violence at liberation, yet they also exercised agency in protecting themselves, family, friends, and sometimes strangers. After the war, stories of women helping women to hide, escape, and survive are more central in many testimonies than those of men helping women.« (Source: The Journal of Holocaust Research)

Contents:

	Abstract (p. 1)
	Women’s voices as historical evidence (p. 4)
	Situating women’s voices in the literature (p. 6)
	Jewish women tell their stories (p. 9)
		Survival as complicity (p. 9)
		Entitlement based on deeds and needs (p. 13)
		Recognizing and responding to risk (p. 14)
		A persisting threat (p. 17)
	Conclusion (p. 18)
	Acknowledgements (p. 19)
	Disclosure statement (p. 19)
	Notes on contributor (p. 19)

Wikipedia: History of Europe: History of Russia / History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953) | Gencoide: The Holocaust / Sexual violence during the Holocaust | Internment: Nazi concentration camps | Sex and the law: Wartime sexual violence / Wartime sexual violence in World War II | War: World War II / Soviet World War II crimes