In Europe Aftermath of World War II

as soviet troops marched across balkans, committed rapes , robberies in romania, hungary, czechoslovakia , yugoslavia. population of bulgaria largely spared treatment, due possibly sense of ethnic kinship or leadership of marshal fyodor tolbukhin. population of germany treated worse. rape , murder of german civilians bad as, , worse than, nazi propaganda had anticipated. political officers encouraged soviet troops seek revenge , terrorise german population. on basis of hochrechnungen (projections or estimations) , 1.9 million german women altogether raped @ end of war red army soldiers. one-third of german women in berlin raped soviet forces. substantial minority raped multiple times. in berlin, contemporary hospital records indicate between 95,000 , 130,000 women raped soviet troops. 10,000 of these women died, suicide. on 4.5 million germans fled towards west. soviets had no rules against troops fraternising german women, 1947 started isolate troops german population in attempt stop rape , robbery troops. not soviet soldiers participated in these activities.

foreign reports of soviet brutality denounced false. rape, robbery, , murder blamed on german bandits impersonating soviet soldiers. justified soviet brutality towards german civilians based on previous brutality of german troops toward russian civilians. until reunification of germany, east german histories virtually ignored actions of soviet troops, , russian histories still tend so. reports of mass rapes soviet troops dismissed anti-communist propaganda or normal byproduct of war.

rapes occurred under other occupation forces, though majority committed soviet troops. french moroccan troops matched behaviour of soviet troops when came rape, in occupations of baden , württemberg. in letter editor of time published in september 1945, american army sergeant wrote, our own army , british army along ours have done share of looting , raping ... offensive attitude among our troops not @ general, percentage large enough have given our army pretty black name, , considered army of rapists. robert lilly’s analysis of military records led him conclude 14,000 rapes occurred in britain, france, , germany @ hands of soldiers between 1942 , 1945. lilly assumed 5% of rapes american soldiers reported, making 17,000 gi rapes possibility, while analysts estimate 50% of (ordinary peace-time) rapes reported. supporting lilly s lower figure crucial difference world war ii military rapes commanding officer, not victim, brought charges .

german soldiers left many war children behind in nations such france , denmark, occupied extended period. after war, children , mothers suffered recriminations. in norway, “tyskerunger“ (german-kids) suffered greatly.