Miriam Gebhardt - Crimes Unspoken - The Rape of German Women at the End of the Second World War

We know today that it was not thousands. The Secretary of Finance in Berlin reckoned in 1956 that around 200 ‘Russian children’ had been conceived in violence. [52] BA Koblenz B 126/28038 Berliner Finanzsenator on 28 March 1957. But the official doctors were meeting because there was a great medical demand: 10 per cent of the women of Berlin had venereal diseases. The black market price for treatment with Salvarsan was two pounds of coffee, or 100 marks per injection. Hoechst launched this organic arsenic compound in 1914 as the first effective remedy for syphilis. It was now in huge demand. Sulphonamides were in short supply.

Those who have the misfortune to contract a ‘Mongol’ syphilis are beyond help. Penicillin? Perhaps. But there’s no penicillin for us. The Allies are the only ones allowed to have it. Girls and women sit distraught in the doctors’ waiting rooms. ‘Will I die?’ ask some. ‘Do I have to carry it to term? Do I really have to bring it into the world?’ ask others anxiously.

The doctors did not show much sympathy or understanding. This aspect will be discussed later. Paragraph 218 of the Criminal Code, which prohibited abortion, remained in force but was unofficially ignored. It was a time of complete arbitrariness. Not everyone saw it in the same way as one of Ruth Andreas-Friedrich’s friends:

‘Of course we agree with the indication’, said Frank with the conviction of a true believer. ‘Children conceived through violence are a violation of human dignity. Women also have a right to self-determination. It is high time for us to abandon the depressing attitude that they are nothing more than baby machines. A means to an end. Demographic dairy cows. Humanity will not become extinct if Paragraph 218 is abolished.’ [53] Andreas-Friedrich, Schauplatz Berlin , pp. 215–16.

A point of view that remains controversial even today.

When we think of the mass rapes in Berlin, we see pictures of any number of frightened women being pulled out of cellar hiding places after the arrival of the Red Army in early 1945. However vivid these pictures might be, they fail to tell the whole story. The situation didn’t change with the occupation of the city. In 1946, police stations in the different zones continued to report incidents with members of the occupying forces.

The police reports are almost always about women who have been victims of aggravated robbery, bodily harm, murder and rape, or who committed suicide after such acts. The perpetrators were members of the armed forces, not only Soviets. The police reports are very restrained in their tone. The Soviet or other uniformed perpetrators are exonerated and the word ‘allegedly’ is almost ever-present. The number of reports between July and December 1946 alone is impressive. They convey an impression of the daily horror of a crime committed in homes, but frequently also on the open street. Women were the indiscriminate victims, the perpetrators soldiers from all four occupying powers. [54] Landesarchiv Berlin C Rep. 118/398. The fear, as a child or woman, of encountering someone alone on the street or of being out at night persisted long after this time.

At around 5 a.m. on 23 July 1946, a special BVG bus was proceeding along Neuendorfer Str. in Spandau. The vehicle stopped suddenly next to a police car. A woman’s cries for help were heard from inside the bus, and the police officer observed two men, one in the uniform of the Soviet navy, holding a woman. When the police officer attempted to approach, he was threatened with a pistol by the men. He managed, however, to rescue the woman from the bus, which then continued on its way.

At around 10 p.m. on 26 July 1946, Gerda H. … was assaulted in Klosterbüschen, approx. 200 m to the east of the Brandenwerder level crossing by two persons in Soviet uniforms. The attackers attempted unsuccessfully to rape H. They then manhandled the victim, and when she cried for help they were able to get away without identification.

At around 11 p.m. on 28 July 1946, the sentry Peter L., … in Spandau, am Bunker, was attacked by two persons in Soviet uniforms. L. attempted to come to the aid of two women, who were being molested by the attackers. He suffered serious injuries and had to be admitted to Spandau Hospital. A police car sent to the scene ascertained that the two attackers had been arrested by two members of the British occupying power.

At around 11.30 p.m. on 8 August 1946, Erna A., née B., born 7 June 1907, living at Berlin SW 61, Tempelhofer Ufer 16, was rescued alive from the Landwehr Canal by a police cadet and two civilians. According to A., she had been thrown into the canal by two members of the Red Army after a drinking bout. A. was released and allowed to go home.

At around 2.15 a.m. on 9 August 1946, Ilse M. … was allegedly attacked and raped on the corner of Reinickendorferstrasse and Iranischestrasse by two persons in Soviet uniforms.

At around 1.00 a.m. on 11 August 1946, the tram driver Otto H., … living in Berlin-Neukölln, appeared at police station 220 and reported that a Soviet civilian known to him had entered his apartment with the intention of raping his granddaughter. A police cadet arrived at the scene with an American MP but the perpetrator had already left. His car was seized.

At around 10 p.m. on 16 August 1946, a person in Soviet uniform forced his way into an apartment in Kieler Str. 18 and allegedly raped Elisabeth L.,…, living in Berlin, who was visiting at the time. The attacker was able to get away without identification. The Soviet commandant’s office was informed.

At around 2.15 a.m. on 26 August 1946, the 50-year-old Emma K. and the 41-year-old Anni O., Berlin N20, … were attacked in K.’s apartment in Berlin-Lichtenrade by several allegedly Russian-speaking persons. O. was raped at gunpoint. The following were stolen: clothing, food ration cards, ID papers, a radio and around RM 950 in cash.

At around 10.15 p.m. on 31 August 1946, the 28-year-old building worker Hedwig K. was allegedly attacked and raped in Schönefeld by five persons in Soviet uniforms. The relevant commandant’s office and criminal police were informed.

At around 10.15 p.m. on 4 September 1946, Mrs Helene S. …, while crossing the bridge at Heesestrasse, was forced at gunpoint by a person in Soviet uniform to get into a car that had stopped next to her. The perpetrator then set off in the direction of Wuhlheide station, stopped on a farm track in Karlshorst and raped S. allegedly once in the car and a second time on the street. When a car approached, the attacker abandoned S. and escaped in his car.

On 5 September 1946, Soviet soldiers forced their way into an apartment in Württembergallee, Charlottenburg, and threw the housekeeper out of the window, killing her immediately.

In the night of 8 September 1946, a woman, who was pulling a handcart in Reinickendorf-West, was stopped by several persons in French uniforms, choked, searched and abused. When a man came to the woman’s aid, the attackers let her go and assaulted the man, who was left lying on the ground allegedly bleeding heavily. The French MPs were informed.

At around 11 p.m. on 9 September 1946 the gardener Erika E. (…) was attacked in Lichterfelde-West. She was allegedly disrobed completely, and the attackers urinated in her face and mouth. When E. managed to escape and call for help, the attackers fled in the direction of Neuchatellerstrasse, taking all of E.’s clothing with them. The American MPs were informed of the incident.

At around 10.30 p.m. on 14 September, the commercial clerk Marianne V., born 14 September 1925, was attacked by six persons in American uniforms and allegedly raped. The attackers escaped without identification in a jeep no. 43318. The American MPs were informed of the incident.