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At the end of World War II, Red Army soldiers raped more than 200,000 German females who then later died from injuries sustained, committed suicide, or were murdered outright. After June 1945 the Soviet high command imposed punishments for rape ranging from arrest to execution. In 1947 Soviet troops were completely separated from the residential population of Berlin. Rape victims: Eastern Provinces: 1,400,000; SBZ: 500,000; Berlin: 100,000.

Fleeing from the advancing Soviet forces, the German refugees trudged in columns through the snow at tempertures of −25°C, while being strafed by Soviet aircraft. Possibly more than two million people in the eastern provinces of Germany (East Prussia,Silesia,Pomerania) died, many of cold and starvation, but many were murdered by Soviet forces.

More than 20,000 evacuees, mostly women and children, died when Soviet submarines sank the refugee transport ships Wilhelm Gustloff (January 1945), Steuben (February 1945) and Goya (April 1945). Since the ships were either lightly armed or convoyed, their sinkings have not been classified as war crimes.

External Links

• German rape victims find a voice at last Guardian Newspapers article, 6/23/2002

References

• Bundesarchiv Koblenz , Ostdokumentensammlung , Ost-Dok. 2 Nr. 8,13,14; Ost-Dok.2/51, 2/77,2/96
• Bundesarchiv/Militärarchiv Freiburg , Akten Fremde Heere Ost, Bestand H3, Bd. 483, 657, 665, 667, 690
• Archiv der Charité and Landesarchiv Berlin
• Helke Sander and Barbara Johr. BeFreier und Befreite. Krieg, Vegewaltigung, Kinder Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag (2005), ISBN 3596163056
• Franz W. Seidler and Alfred M. de Zayas. Kriegsverbrechen in Europa und im Nahen Osten im 20. Jahrhundert Hamburg-Berlin-Bonn (2002), p.122, ISBN 3813207021
• Dokumentation der Vertreibung der Deutschen aus Ostmitteleuropa, 5 Bde, 3 Beihefte, Bonn 1953-1961
• Christopher Dobson, John Miller u. Ronald Payne: Die Versenkung der Wilhelm Gustloff, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3548236863
• Elizabeth B. Walter, Barefoot in the Rubble 1997, ISBN 0965779300

• World War II
• Post-World War II
• History of Germany