From: NBC
Germany Shines Light on Rape by Allied Troops Who Defeated Nazis
MAY 30 2015
[Professor Miriam] Gebhardt estimates that nearly 900,000 Germans were raped by the Allied forces that freed her country from the Nazis in the wake of D-Day in 1944 until West Germany was declared fully sovereign in 1955. …
In 1945, TIME magazine published a letter penned by an unidentified American serviceman who stated that “our own Army and the British Army … have done their share of looting and raping … we too are considered an army of rapists.”
Gebhardt, a professor of history and sociology at the University of Konstanz, alleges that 190,000 sexual assaults were perpetrated by U.S. troops while defeating the Nazis and in the subsequent 10 years.
Her estimates are partially based on the assumption that one child originated from every 100 cases of rape.
Gebhardt’s research included examining police reports and interviews with German women, who were questioned by the country’s post-1945 government to evaluate child care costs.
She also used so-called “invasion reports,” compiled by priests in Bavaria to document the situation in their local communities. …
An often-quoted figure is that the Soviets committed between 1 and 2 million rapes after Germany was liberated. However, Gebhardt’s new estimates link around 430,000 rapes to the Red Army, as well as 45,000 to British troops and 50,000 to the French. …
American sociologist Robert Lilly … isn’t convinced by Gebhardt’s estimates because access to official documents has become more difficult. “Twenty-five years ago, when I started, it was a very different research world,” he said.
Related:
(audio) Deanna Spingola: Post War Allied Mass Rape of German Women and Girls
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