"A Common Story": The Discourse on the Rape of Women during the Second World War

Abstract

The aim of this article is to address deficiencies in research on the topic of sexual violence during the Second World War by attempting to trace possible paths for future investigation. The author pays much attention to the role of the binary construct of "civilised men" versus "barbarian" and "East versus West" in the discourse surrounding sexual violence during and after the War. It shows the reasons for silence concerning rape on the Eastern front in comparative perspective. It explains why rape was so often overlooked by historians and society in Germany and made into a taboo issue in Soviet and Russian historiographical tradition. The article asserts that the difficulties in investigation of sexual violence on Eastern front during the Second World War can be explained not by a lack of primary sources but due to a lack of interest on the part of researchers.