Sex and the Nazi Soldier

Regina Mühlhäuser is a Senior Researcher at the Hamburg Foundation for the Advancement of Research and Culture and a founder of the ‘International Research Group “Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict”’. Jessica Spengler is a German to English translator specialising in the humanities and social sciences, who has worked as a translator and copyeditor on numerous museum exhibitions, academic publications and other projects.

• Map: Eastern Europe before World War II 1. Introduction: War, Violence, Sexuality Points of Departure Sources on Sexual Encounters Private Photographs by Wehrmacht Soldiers, Part 1 2. Sexual Violence Forms and Functions of Sexual Violence Situations Negotiations in the Military 3. Sexual Transactions Occasional Sexual Bartering Professional Prostitution Persecution of Women ‘Suspected of Prostitution’ Disciplining Wehrmacht Soldiers Appeals to SS Men Wehrmacht Brothels 4. Consensual Relations The Men’s Desire for NormalityThe Women’s Desire for New Experiences Regulation by the Wehrmacht SS Directives Negotiations Regarding Marriage Applications Rhetoric of Defeat Private Photographs by Wehrmacht Soldiers, Part 2 5. Occupation Children Population Policy Strategies Control Measures 6. Concluding Remarks: Gender, Sexuality and Violence in the War and Post-War Period 7. Epilogue: What Can We Learn from the Nazi Case? Racist ‘Pollution Taboos’ Conflicting Military Interests Sexual Violence and Sexuality Soldiers’ Corporeality Sexual Violence as a Weapon Bibliography Index

Such an examination of the whole spectrum of sexual contacts is new and Regina Mühlhäuser succeeds in showing that an understanding of the structures of power and violence in wartime is essential if we are to comprehend consensual relations, as well. […] Regina Mühlhäuser has probed the complex nature of encounters between military society and civil society. […] To "get to the roots of the multilayered interconnectedness of gender, sexuality, war, and violence" was the goal which Mühlhäuser formulated for her work. With her close analysis of a wide variety of sources, she has achieved this in what is, altogether, an outstanding way.