(유럽/독일) 2차 세계대전 종료 당시 소련군의 독일 여성 강간

출처: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32529679

1 May 2015

The rape of Berlin 2차 세계대전 종료 당시 소련군의 독일 여성 강간

By Lucy AshBBC News, Berlin

The USSR's role in the defeat of Nazi Germany World War Two 70 years ago is seen as the nation's most glorious moment. But there is another story - of mass rapes by Soviet soldiers of German women in the dying days of the war. 70년 전 제2차 세계대전에서 나찌 독일군을 격퇴시키는데 있어 구소련의 역할은 소련의 가장 영광스런 순간처럼 보인다. 그러나 다른 측면의 이야기가 있으나, 전쟁이 종료될 무렵 소련병사들이 독일 여성들에게 자행한 강간에 대한 이야기도 있다.

Some readers may find this story disturbing. 일부 독자들은 본 기사가 불편할 지 모른다

Dusk is falling in Treptower Park on the outskirts of Berlin and I am looking up at a statue dramatically outlined against a lilac sky. Twelve metres (40ft) high, it depicts a Soviet soldier grasping a sword in one hand and a small German girl in the other, and stamping on a broken swastika. 베를린 외각 트렙타워 공원에 황혼이 지고 있을 때, 난 연보라색 하늘 앞에 극적으로 자신을 보여주는 동상을 올려다보고 있다. 

This is the final resting place for 5,000 of the 80,000 Soviet troops who fell in the Battle of Berlin between 16 April and 2 May 1945. 이곳이 1945년 4월16일부터 5월2일까지 벌어졌던 베를린 전투에서 전사한 8만명의 구소련 병사들 중 5천명이 잠든 곳이다.

The colossal proportions of the monument reflect the scale of the sacrifice. At the top of a long flight of steps, you can peer into the base of the statue, which is lit up like a religious shrine. An inscription saying that the Soviet people saved European civilisation from fascism catches my eye. 기념비의 크기가 크다는 것(방대한 비율)은 희생이 그만큼 컸다는 걸 보여준다. 일련의 긴 계단의 상단에 있는 동상의 받침을 볼 수 있다. 이 동상은 성상처럼 빛나고 있다. 소비에트 사람들이 파시즘으로부터 유럽문명을 구했다는 명패가 내 눈을 사로잡는다.

But some call this memorial the Tomb of the Unknown Rapist. 그러나 일부는 이 기념비를 이름 없는 강간범이라 부른다.

Stalin's troops assaulted an uncounted number of women as they fought their way to the German capital, though this was rarely mentioned after the war in Germany - West or East - and is a taboo subject in Russia even today. 스탈린의 군대는 독일 수도로 진군하면서 이루 헤아릴 수 없이 많은 여성들을 건드렸다. 이 부분은 소련군의 독일 전격이 종료된 후에도 별로 언급된 바 없었으며, 오늘날에도 러시아에선 이런 얘기는 아직도 금기시되어 있다.

The Russian media regularly dismiss talk of the rapes as a Western myth, though one of many sources that tells the story of what happened is a diary kept by a young Soviet officer. 이와 관련된 많은 자료 중에 하나가 젊은 소비에트 장교가 간직해온 일기장이 있음에도 불구하고, 러시아 언론은 서방의 신화같은 강간얘기들을 묵살하고 있다. 

Vladimir Gelfand, a young Jewish lieutenant from central Ukraine, wrote with extraordinary frankness from 1941 through to the end of the war, despite the Soviet military's ban on diaries, which were seen as a security risk. 블라디미르 겔판드는 중부 우크라이나 출신의 젊은 유태계 소위로, 보안상의 이유로 소비에트 군인의 일기작성이 금지되었음에도 불구하고, 1941년부터 2차 세계대전이 종료될 때까지 상당히 솔직하게 일기를 적었다. 

The so far unpublished manuscript paints a picture of disarray in the regular battalions - miserable rations, lice, routine anti-Semitism and theft, with men even stealing their comrades' boots. 지금까지 공개된 적이 없는 일기의 원문은 정규 대대 안에 발생했던 혼란(비참한 배급식량, 많은 이, 반유대정서, 심지어 동료의 전투화까지 훔치는 절도행각 등)을 잘 보여주고 있다.  

In February 1945, Gelfand was stationed by the Oder River dam, preparing for the final push on Berlin, and he describes how his comrades surrounded and overpowered a battalion of women fighters. 1945년 2월 겔판트는 오델江댐에 주둔하면서, 베를린에 대한 마지막 공격을 준비하고 있었다. 그는 이 당시 자신의 동료들이 어떻게 여성 전투원들의 부대를 둘러싸 제압했는지 일기장에 기록했다.

"The captured German female cats declared they were avenging their dead husbands," he writes. "They must be destroyed without mercy. Our soldiers suggest stabbing them through their genitals but I would just execute them." "붙잡힌 독일 암코양이들은 죽은 남편들을 대신해 복수하고 있는 거라고 공언했다"고 그는 적고 있다. "적들은 무자비하게 죽여야 한다. 동료 병사들은 그들의 음부를 찔러 죽이자고 주장했으나, 나는 그들을 그냥 처형했다."

It gets worse. 악화일로를 걷다

One of the most revealing passages in Gelfand's diary is dated 25 April, once he had reached Berlin. Gelfand was whirling around on a bicycle by the River Spree, the first time he'd ever ridden one, when he came across a group of German women carrying suitcases and bundles. 겔판트의 일기에서 가장 끔찍한 얘기 중 하나는 그가 베를린에 입성했던 4월25일 쓰여진 것이다. 그가 처음으로 자전거를 타고 스프리江 주변을 돌고 있을 때, 가방과 물건들을 들고 지나가는 독일 여성들을 지나쳤다.

In broken German, he asked them where they were going and why they had left their homes. 엉터리 독일말로, 그는 어디 가느냐 그리고 왜 집을 떠나가느냐 물었다.

"With horror on their faces, they told me what had happened on the first night of the Red Army's arrival," he writes. "두려움이 가득한 얼굴로 그들은 독일군이 당도한 첫날밤 일어난 일을 내게 말해주었다."고 그는 기술하고 있다.

"'They poked here,' explained the beautiful German girl, lifting up her skirt, 'all night. They were old, some were covered in pimples and they all climbed on me and poked - no less than 20 men,' she burst into tears. "'밤새도록 그 군인들이 번갈아가며 여기에다 자기들의 물건을 박아넣었어요.' 하고 이쁘장한 독일 소녀가 자신의 치마를 들어올리며 설명했다. 그 군인들은 어느 정도 나이가 들었으나 일부 병사들은 얼굴에 여드름도 있었어요. 그들 전부 20명 남짓이 제 몸에 올라타 즈그들의 거시기를 쑤셔넣었던 거지요.'라고 말하며 이 소녀는 울음을 터뜨렸다.

"'They raped my daughter in front of me,' her poor mother added, 'and they can still come back and rape her again.' This thought horrified everyone. "'그 병사들은 제 앞에서 딸을 강간했어요.'라고 애 엄마가 말했어요, '그리고 다시 돌아와서 딸을 또 겁탈했어요.'  이것이 모든 이를 두려워떨게 했어요.'"

"'Stay here,' the girl suddenly threw herself at me, 'sleep with me! You can do whatever you want with me, but only you!'" "'여기 계세요.'라고 말하며 소녀는 갑자기 나에게 몸을 던졌다. '저랑 같이 자요! 당신은 나한테 원하는 걸 다 할 수 있어요. 그러나 당신만 할 수 있어요!'"

By this stage, German soldiers had been guilty of sexual violence and other horrors in the Soviet Union for almost four years, as Gelfand had become aware as he fought his way to Berlin. 이 때, 독일 군인들은 거의 4년 동안 소련의 지배 하에 성폭력과 기타 공포를 조성한 죄를 지었다. 그리고 겔판트는 베를린으로 향하는 길을 뚫을 때 이 사실을 알고 있었다.

"He went through so many villages in which the Nazis had killed everyone, even small children. And he saw evidence of rape," says his son, Vitaly. "그는 나찌가 어린 아이를 포함해 모든 마을 사람들을 죽인 많은 마을을 지나갔다. 그리고 그는 강간의 증거를 보았다고 그의 아들 비탈리는 말한다.

Vitaly Gelfand discovered his father's diary after he died 비탈리 겔판트는 아버지가 세상 떠난 후 아버지의 일기를 발견했다

The Wehrmacht was supposedly a well-ordered force of Aryans who would never contemplate sex with untermenschen.

But the ban was ignored, says Oleg Budnitsky, a historian at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. Nazi commanders were in fact so concerned about venereal disease that they established a chain of military brothels throughout the occupied territories. 그러나 이 금지는 무시되었다고, 모스크바 고등 경체학교 역사학자 올렉 벗닡스키는 말한다.

It's hard to find direct evidence of how the German soldiers treated Russian women - many victims never survived - but in the German-Russian Museum in Berlin, director Jorg Morre shows me a photograph taken in Crimea from a German soldier's personal wartime album. A woman's corpse is sprawled on the ground. 독일 병사들이 러시아 여성들을 어떻게 다뤘는지에 대한 직접적인 증거를 찾는다는 건 어렵다. 러시아의 많은 희생 여성들은 결코 살아남지 못했다. 그러나 베를린에 있는 독러 박물관 관장 조르그 모레는 한 독일 병사의 전시 개인앨범에서 나온 크리메아에서 촬영된 사진을 나에게 보여주었다.

"It looks like she was killed by raping, or after the rape. Her skirt is pulled up and the hands are in front of the face," he says. "이 사진에 보면 여성은 강간 때문에 죽었거나 강간 후에 죽은 것으로 보인다. 그녀의 치마는 올라가 있고 두 손은 얼굴을 가리고 있다"고 그는 말한다.

"It's a shocking photo. We had discussions in the museum, should we show the photos - this is war, this is sexual violence under German policy in the Soviet Union. We are showing war. Not talking about war but showing it." "이 사진은 쇼킹한 사진이다. 우리는 이 사진을 공개할 것인가를 놓고 박물관에서 대화를 했다. 이 사진의 장면은 소련에서 독일 정책아래 자행된 성폭력이다. 우리는 전쟁의 장면을 보여주고 있다. 전쟁에 대해 얘기하는 것이 아니라, 전쟁을 보여주고 있다."

As the Red Army advanced into what the Soviet press called "the lair of the fascist beast" posters encouraged troops to show their anger: "Soldier: You are now on German soil. The hour of revenge has struck!" 구소련의 공산군이 소비에트 신문이 "파시트트 짐승의 소굴"로 칭했던 곳으로 진군할 때, 포스터의 문구에는 그들의 분노가 담겨있었다. "군인들이여, 당신은 이제 독일땅에 있다. 복수의 시간이 다가왔다!"

In fact, the political department of the 19th Army, which fought its way into Germany along the Baltic Coast, declared that a true Soviet soldier would be so full of hatred that he would be repulsed by sex with Germans. But once again soldiers proved the ideologists wrong. 실제로, 발틱해안을 따라 독일로 진주했던 19세기 (소련) 군대의 정치부는 진정한 소련군은 독일여성과의 섹스로 구역질 나는 증오감으로 충만해야 한다고 선포한 바 있다. 그러나 다시 한 번, 군인들은 이런 이데올로기를 선전한 자들이 잘못되었음을 증명했다.

While researching his 2002 book, Berlin, The Downfall, historian Antony Beevor found documents about sexual violence in the state archive of the Russian Federation. They were sent by the NKVD, the secret police, to their boss, Lavrentiy Beria, in late 1944.

"These were passed on to Stalin," says Beevor. "You can actually see from the ticks whether they've been read or not - and they report on the mass rapes in East Prussia and the way that German women would try to kill their children, and kill themselves, to avoid such a fate."

Another wartime diary, this time kept by the fiancee of an absent German soldier, shows that some women adapted to the appalling circumstances, in order to survive.

Starting on 20 April 1945, 10 days before Hitler's suicide, the anonymous author is, like Vladimir Gelfand, brutally honest, with razor-sharp powers of observation and occasional flashes of gallows humour.

Describing herself as "a pale-faced blonde always dressed in the same winter coat", the diarist paints vivid pictures of her neighbours in the bomb shelter beneath her Berlin apartment block, including a "young man in grey trousers and horn-rimmed glasses who on closer inspection turns out to be a young woman" and three elderly sisters, "all dressmakers, huddled together like a big black pudding".

Soviet soldiers distribute food in Berlin, in May 1945 (photograph: Timofey Melnik)

As they await the arrival of the Red Army, they joke "better a Russky on top than a Yank overhead" - rape is preferable to being pulverised by bombs. But when the soldiers reach their basement and try to haul women out, they beg the diarist to use her Russian language skills and complain to the Soviet command.

Braving the chaos on the rubble strewn streets, she manages to find a senior officer. He shrugs his shoulders. Despite Stalin's decree banning violence against civilians, he says, "It happens anyway."

The officer returns to the cellar with her and reprimands the soldiers, but one is seething with fury.

"'What do you mean? What did the Germans do to our women!' He is screaming: 'They took my sister and…' The officer calms the man down and gets them outside."

But when the diarist steps back into the corridor to check they have gone, the men have been lying in wait and grab her. She is brutally raped and nearly strangled. The terrified neighbours, or "cave dwellers" as she calls them, had slammed the basement door shut.

"Finally the two iron levers open. Everyone stares at me," she writes. "My stockings are down to my shoes, I'm still holding on to what's left of my suspender belt. I start yelling 'You pigs! Here they rape me twice in a row and you leave me lying like a piece of dirt!'"

Eventually the diarist realises that she needs to find one "wolf" to stave off gang rape by the "male beasts". The relationship between aggressor and victim becomes less violent, more transactional - and more ambiguous. She shares her bed with a senior officer from Leningrad with whom she discusses literature and the meaning of life.

"By no means could it be said that the major is raping me," she writes. "Am I doing it for bacon, butter, sugar, candles, canned meat? To some extent I'm sure I am. In addition, I like the major and the less he wants from me as a man, the more I like him as a person."

US troops watch a Russian soldier with a female friend in Berlin

Many of the diarist's neighbours made similar deals with the conquerors in the ruins of Berlin.

When the diary was published in German in 1959 under the title A Woman in Berlin, the author's frank account of the choices she made to survive was attacked for "besmirching the honour" of German women. Not surprisingly, she refused to allow the book to be republished until after her death.

Seventy years after the end of the war, new research on sexual violence committed by all the Allied forces - American, British and French as well as Soviet - is still emerging. But for years the subject slid under the official radar. Few reported it and even fewer would listen.

Besides the social stigma, in East Germany it was sacrilegious to criticise Soviet heroes who had defeated fascism while across the Wall in the West, the guilt for Nazi crimes made German suffering unmentionable.

But in 2008, there was a film adaptation of the Berlin Woman's diary called Anonyma, starring the well-known German actress Nina Hoss. The film had a cathartic effect in Germany and encouraged many women to come forward, including Ingeborg Bullert.

Ingeborg: "My mother liked to boast that her daughter hadn't been touched"

Ingeborg, aged 90, now lives in Hamburg in a flat filled with photos of cats and books about the theatre. She was 20 in 1945, dreamed of becoming an actress and lived with her mother in an upmarket street in Berlin's Charlottenberg district.

When the Soviet assault on the city began, like the woman diarist, she took refuge in the cellar of her building.

"Suddenly there were tanks in our street and everywhere the bodies of Russian and German soldiers", she recalls. "I remember the dreadful whining sound made by those Russian bombs - we called them Stalinorgels (Stalin organs)."

During a lull in the air raid, Ingeborg left the cellar and ran upstairs to look for a piece of string to use as a wick for a lamp. "Suddenly there were two Russians pointing their pistols at me," she says. one of them forced me to expose myself and raped me, and then they changed places and the other one raped me as well. I thought I would die, that they would kill me."

Ingeborg didn't talk about her ordeal at the time, or for decades afterwards - she said it was too difficult. "My mother liked to boast that her daughter hadn't been touched," she says.

Ingeborg: "I thought I was going to die"

But the rapes had affected women in households across Berlin. Ingeborg recalls that women between the ages of 15 and 55 were ordered to get tested for sexually transmitted diseases. "You needed the medical certificate to get the food stamps and I remember that all the doctors doing these certificates, had waiting rooms full of women."

What was the scale of the rapes? The most often quoted number is a staggering 100,000 women in Berlin and two million on German territory. That figure - hotly debated - was extrapolated from scant surviving medical records.

In a former munitions factory which now houses the State Archive, Martin Luchterhand shows me an armful of blue cardboard folders. These contain abortion records dated July to October 1945 from Neukolln, just one of Berlin's 24 districts - it's a small miracle that they survived intact.

Abortions were illegal in Germany according to Article 218 of the penal code, but Luchterhand says "there was a small window for those women because of that special situation of the mass rapes in 1945".

Altogether 995 pleas for abortion were approved by this one district office in Berlin office between June 1945 to 1946. The files contain over 1,000 fragile scraps of paper of different colours and sizes. In childish round handwriting, one girl testifies that she was assaulted in the living room of her home in front of her parents.

We will probably never know the true scale of the rapes. Soviet military tribunals and other sources remain classified. The Russian parliament recently passed a law which says that anyone who denigrates Russia's record in World War Two could face fines and up to five years in prison.

Vera Dubina, a young historian at the University of Humanities in Moscow, says she knew nothing of the rapes until a scholarship took her to Berlin. She later wrote a paper on the subject but struggled to get it published.

"The Russian media reacted very aggressively," she says. "People only want to hear about our glorious victory in the Great Patriotic War and now it is getting harder to do proper research."

It's the fate of history to be rewritten to suit the agenda of the present. That's why first-hand accounts are so valuable - from those who brave the subject now, in their old age, and from those younger voices who put pencil to paper on the spot.

Vitaly Gelfand, son of the Red Army diarist Vladimir Gelfand, doesn't deny that many Soviet soldiers showed great bravery and sacrifice in World War Two - but that's not the whole story, he says.

Recently Vitaly did an interview on Russian radio, which triggered some anti-Semitic trolling on social media, saying the diary's a fake and he should clear off to Israel (he has in fact lived in Berlin for the last 20 years). Yet he is hoping the diary will be published in Russia later this year. Parts of it have been translated into German and Swedish.

"If people don't want to know the truth, they're just deluding themselves", he says. "The entire world understands it, Russia understands it and the people behind those new laws about defaming the past, even they understand it. We can't move forward until we look back."

The Battle for Berlin (April - May 1945)

Red Army soldier raises the Soviet flag over the Reichstag in Berlin

• After the Red Army captured Vienna, Joseph Stalin ordered his forces on to Berlin, determined to take the city before US forces
• Two and a half million Red Army troops, 6,000 tanks and more than 40,000 artillery pieces were deployed, supported by thousands of aircraft
• After heavy fighting and substantial losses, by 21 April, Red Army soldiers had entered the outlying suburbs of Berlin
• In a staff conference on 22 April Adolf Hitler came close to admitting defeat but instead resolved to fight on, directing troops from his underground bunker
• As Soviet forces took the city, it is estimated that close to 100,000 women were raped by Red Army soldiers
• On 30 April Hitler killed himself and by 2 May the Reichstag had fallen

World War Two: History's most savage and devastating war