Sexual enslavement by Nazi Germany in World War II

Forced prostitution by the Nazi state for sexual gratification of German soldiers and members of other Nazi controlled organizations became prevalent in occupied Europe during World War II.de icon cite video | people = Thomas Gaevert, Martin Hilbert | year = 2005 | date = | title = Frauen als Beute: Wehrmacht und Prostitution - über den Missbrauch von Frauen in deutschen Militärbordellen (Women as Booty: Wehrmacht and Prostitution...) | url =http://www.absolutondemand.de/movie.php?id=19 | format = | medium = documentary | publisher = Aquinofilm, ARD-WDR | location =Cologne | accessmonth= January | accessyear =2008 ] It is estimated that a minimum of 34,140 women from occupied states were forced to work as prostitutes during the Third Reich."The Blessed Abyss: Inmate #6582 in Ravensbruck Concentration Prison for Women" by Nanda Herbermann] The brothels established by the Nazi state were for use by the soldiers of the Wehrmacht, SS officers, and foreign laborers working in the German Reich (including those working within the concentration camps).

The subject of forced prostitution and camp bordellos has remained largely taboo in studies of Nazism until recently, when the new publications by women researchers broke the silence. Christa Schulz, "Weibliche Häftlinge aus Ravensbrück in Bordellen der Männerkonzentrationslager"] Christa Paul, Zwangsprostitution. Staatlich errichtete Bordelle im Nationalsozialismus ("Forced prostitution: bordellos established by the National Socialist State. ]

Usually organized in hotels confiscated from their rightful owners, they also served travelling soldiers or those withdrawn from the front. Usually they also included a bar, a restaurant and a brothel. en icon cite book | author = various authors |coauthors=Leon Yudkin |editor=Leon Yudkin, ed. |title=Hebrew Literature in the Wake of the Holocaust |date=1993 |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |isbn=0-838-63499-0 |pages=13-32 |chapter=Narrative Perspectives on Holocaust Literature] en icon cite book |last=Lenten |first=Ronit |title=Israel and the Daughters of the Shoah: Reoccupying the Territories of Silence |date=2000 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=1-571-81775-1 |pages=33-34] In most cases, especially in the East, the women were forced to serve as prostitutes after being caught at random on the streets in Łapankas (Nazi German military kidnapping raids against civilians in Poland). The authors of a 2004 German documentary on the victims of forced prostitution in Nazi Germany estimate, that in 1942 alone there were over 500 such brothels for German soldiers all over Europe.pl icon cite news | author=ra |title=Kobiety łupem wojennym | work=Dziennik Internetowy PAP |publisher=Polish Press Agency |id= |pages= |page= |date=2005-01-13 ] It is estimated that at least 34,140 women were forced to serve as prostitutes in Nazi brothels for Nazi officials, SS and soldiers, but also in similar institutions for slave laborers and privileged German concentration camp inmatesde icon cite book | author =Christa Paul | coauthors = | title =Zwangsprostitution. Staatlich errichtete Bordelle im Nationalsozialismus | year =1994 | editor = | pages = | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =Edition Hentrich | location =Berlin | isbn=3-89468-141-1 , as cited in: en icon cite book | author =Nanda Herbermann | coauthors = | title =The Blessed Abyss: Inmate #6582 in Ravensbruck Concentration Camp for Women | year =2000 | editor = | pages =33-34 | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =Wayne State University Press | location =Detroit | isbn=0814329209 | url =http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0814329209&id=X4fCq5ki8R0C&pg=PA33&lpg=PA33&ots=JS71lX07M7&dq=%22forced+prostitution%22+%22Germany%22+1942&sig=vl5dwQVzgA2wDU2uoG4DHL1BdDM#PPA33,M1 | format = | accessdate = ] even though many more women remained silent about the experience after the end of the war. According to a Gestapo report on one of such brothels located in Łódź in occupied Poland, there were roughly 4,000 visitors a month, including more than 3,000 soldiers of the Wehrmacht.pl icon cite web | author=Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (corporate author) | title = Przegląd mediów - 14 stycznia 2005 | publisher=Institute of National Remembrance | year=2005 | work=IPN website | url=http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/pl/18/2923/ | accessdate=2007-04-02 ]

The hotels/brothels in question were known as "German Soldier's Houses" ( _de. Deutsches Soldatenhaus), "DSH", or in German Militärbordelle or Wehrmachtsbordell.

Thomas Gaevert and Martin Hilbert, authors of a documentary called "Women as trophy" (made for ARD) claim that Eastern European sex-slaves in the hands of German military were the most perfidious form of slave-labor of World War II. The revealing of the extent of their abuse is not always desirable, because many victims remain afraid of being wrongfully accused of collaboration with the occupier. pl icon cite web | author = Anna Gałkiewicz, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (corporate author) | title = Przegląd mediów - 13.01.2005 | publisher = Institute of National Remembrance | year=2005 | work=IPN website | url=http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/pl/18/2923/ | accessdate=2007-06-24 ]

Notes and references

::In-line: ::General::* de icon cite journal | author =Christl Wickert | year =1996 | month = | title =Das große Schweigen; Zwangsprostitution im Dritten Reich (The Big Silence: Forced Prostitution on the Third Reich) | journal =WerkstattGeschichte | volume =13 | issue = | pages =90–95 | issn =0933-5706 | url =

ee also

* Comfort women
* Joy Division (World War II)
* Recreation and Amusement Association
* Sexual slavery