Miriam Gebhardt is an historian and journalist who teaches at the University of Konstanz.

"Miriam Gebhardt has uncovered swathes of new evidence relating to the rape of German women in the US Zone of Occupation. Her book adds a further dimension to our knowledge of life in Germany in the immediate aftermath of the war." - Giles MacDonogh, historian and author"Miriam Gebhardt's study is not the first that explores the experiences of circa 860.000 German women, who were raped by Allied soldiers in the aftermath of the Second World. But it shifts the focus from the notorious mass rape of Soviet soldiers to the members of the American, British and French forces and estimates that at least 190.000 German women experienced sexual violence by them. With her excellent study she thus challenges the common picture of the 'honourable' Western allied armies."- Karen Hagemann, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill"A harrowing and highly recommended work of scholarship."- Times Higher Education Supplement"A meticulous and fascinating study into the victims of World War II who are rarely considered, much less written about." - History of War“Gebhardt’s book deserves serious attention. It will force historians to take into consideration the ubiquity of rape across occupied Germany. Moreover, her claims about how German politicians instrumentalized women’s suffering for nationalist purposes without taking it seriously are well taken and instructive. One hopes that while future historians will pay greater attention to the complicated moral stakes of this topic, they will also recognize their debt to Gebhardt’s pathbreaking intervention.”Journal of Modern History

• ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1 Seventy years too lateWrong victims?How many were affectedSexual aggression against menA word about methodChapter 2 Berlin and the East Ð chronicle of a calamity foretoldThe great fearThe Red Army comesBerlinOne year onExtracts from police reportsA different perspectiveChapter 3 South Germany Ð who will protect us from the Americans?No one’s timeModerate indignationA ‘feeling of great insecurity among our soldiers’DiscussionA ‘sexual conquest of Europe’?Unbroken assertion of power by the occupiersParallels and differencesChapter 4 Pregnant, sick, ostracized Ð approaches to the victimsVictims twice overFraternizationThe abortion problemNo one’s children‘The other victims are also taken care of’First the French, then the public authorities‘I love this child as much as the others’Chapter 5 The long shadowThe effects of the experience of violenceThe myth of female invulnerability‘Anonymous’ and the censorship of memoryDuties of loyaltyFirst feminist protestsHelke Sander’s ‘BeFreier’ and the German victim debateThe past todayNotesSources and selected literatureIndex

Miriam Gebhardt is an historian and journalist who teaches at the University of Konstanz.

"Miriam Gebhardt has uncovered swathes of new evidence relating to the rape of German women in the US Zone of Occupation. Her book adds a further dimension to our knowledge of life in Germany in the immediate aftermath of the war." - Giles MacDonogh, historian and author"Miriam Gebhardt's study is not the first that explores the experiences of circa 860.000 German women, who were raped by Allied soldiers in the aftermath of the Second World. But it shifts the focus from the notorious mass rape of Soviet soldiers to the members of the American, British and French forces and estimates that at least 190.000 German women experienced sexual violence by them. With her excellent study she thus challenges the common picture of the 'honourable' Western allied armies."- Karen Hagemann, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill"A harrowing and highly recommended work of scholarship."- Times Higher Education Supplement"A meticulous and fascinating study into the victims of World War II who are rarely considered, much less written about." - History of War“Gebhardt’s book deserves serious attention. It will force historians to take into consideration the ubiquity of rape across occupied Germany. Moreover, her claims about how German politicians instrumentalized women’s suffering for nationalist purposes without taking it seriously are well taken and instructive. One hopes that while future historians will pay greater attention to the complicated moral stakes of this topic, they will also recognize their debt to Gebhardt’s pathbreaking intervention.”Journal of Modern History

• ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1 Seventy years too lateWrong victims?How many were affectedSexual aggression against menA word about methodChapter 2 Berlin and the East Ð chronicle of a calamity foretoldThe great fearThe Red Army comesBerlinOne year onExtracts from police reportsA different perspectiveChapter 3 South Germany Ð who will protect us from the Americans?No one’s timeModerate indignationA ‘feeling of great insecurity among our soldiers’DiscussionA ‘sexual conquest of Europe’?Unbroken assertion of power by the occupiersParallels and differencesChapter 4 Pregnant, sick, ostracized Ð approaches to the victimsVictims twice overFraternizationThe abortion problemNo one’s children‘The other victims are also taken care of’First the French, then the public authorities‘I love this child as much as the others’Chapter 5 The long shadowThe effects of the experience of violenceThe myth of female invulnerability‘Anonymous’ and the censorship of memoryDuties of loyaltyFirst feminist protestsHelke Sander’s ‘BeFreier’ and the German victim debateThe past todayNotesSources and selected literatureIndex