Wartime Rape and Sexual Violence: An Examination of the Perpetrators Motivations and Functions of Sexual Violence Against Jewish Women During the Holocaust

Given the extensive body of Holocaust literature it may be surprising to note that there is a distinct gap of reflection analysis and qualification in the area of sexual violence. The subject of sexual violence during the Holocaust in particular the sexual violation of Jewish women is a subject that has been largely repressed and silenced. Thus this thesis is an attempt to not only rectify the omission of sexual violence from Holocaust history but to bring a level of analysis to this under-examined aspect of National Socialism to a point commensurate with that devoted to other aspects of Holocaust studies. During the Holocaust sexual violence against Jewish women was both unique and typical. It was typical in the forms that sexual violence manifested-sexual humiliation rape gang rape sexual slavery-but unique in the patterns it followed and the functions it served for the Nazi regime. Unlike other genocides sexual violence was not a state sanctioned policy of the Final Solution; it was employed in a haphazardly manner that was horrific multi-faceted and deadly. Perpetrators were motivated by a diversity of factors including a desire for power camaraderie sexual pleasure and masculine ego-gratification. Moreover sexual violence was multi-functional for the Nazi regime operating as a powerful tool of humiliation and dehumanization. As the Nazi regime moved into full-scale genocide sexual violence became an increasingly integral component to the process of annihilation. By dehumanizing Jewish women through varied forms of sexual violence German perpetrators increasingly saw their victims as less than human thereby further removing them from the realm of moral and ethical obligation. Sexual violence was clearly an essential component to the continued functioning of genocide because through the process of Jewish womens dehumanization perpetrators were able to more easily continue fulfilling their murderous tasks