Mass rapes
Rapes were allowed in practice by the German military in eastern and southeastern Europe, while northern and western countries were relatively spared.[67][68] Historian Szymon Datner wrote in his work about the fate of POWs taken by the Wehrmacht, that thousands of Soviet female nurses, doctors and field medics fell victim to rape when captured, and were often murdered afterwards.[33] Ruth Seifert in War and Rape. Analytical Approaches wrote: "in the Eastern territories the Wehrmacht used to brand the bodies of captured partisan women – and other women as well – with the words "Whore for Hitler's troops" and to use them accordingly."[69]
Birgit Beck in her work Rape: The Military Trials of Sexual Crimes Committed by Soldiers in the Wehrmacht, 1939–1944 describes the leniency in punishing sex crimes by German authorities in the East, at the same time pointing out heavy punishments applied in the West.[70] If a soldier who committed a rape was subsequently convicted by a court-martial, he would usually be sentenced to four years in prison.[71] The German penal code was also valid for soldiers in war.[72]
Rapes were rarely prosecuted in practice; in Denmark German rapes were not widespread, and German officials promised to punish them.[67] Rape by Germans of non-German women was not taken seriously, nor was it punishable by death, especially in the eastern European territories.[73]
In Soviet Russia rapes were only a concern if they undermined military discipline.[70] The German military command viewed them as another method of crushing Soviet resistance.[73] Since 1941, rape was theoretically punishable with the death sentence; however, this only concerned the rape of German women and was intended to protect German communities.[73]
In October 1940 the laws on rape were changed, making it a "petitioned crime" – that is a crime for which punishment had to be requested. Historian Christa Paul writes that this resulted in "a nearly complete absence of prosecution and punishment for rape".[73] There were rape cases in the east where the perpetrators were sentenced if the rape was highly visible, damaging to the image of the German Army and the courts were willing to pass a condemning verdict against the accused.[73]
According to the historian Regina Mühlhäuser the Wehrmacht also used sexual torture and undressing in numerous cases of interrogations.[74]
Estimates regarding the rape of Soviet women by the Wehrmacht reached up to 10,000,000 cases, with between 750,000 and 1,000,000 children born as a result.[73][75][76][77]
