(iPoster) Women's Nazi-Era War Crimes: A Comparative Analysis

• In Event: Poster Session: Women and Politics

Abstract

This paper examines a wide range of women's Nazi-era war crimes and women's post-war prosecution in European courts. Different patterns of prosecution and judicial outcomes across East and West Germany, the Soviet Union, and Hungary demonstrate how post-war priorities shaped the gendered nature of justice for Nazi-era atrocities. Using individual-level and trial-level data, the paper demonstrates that the weight of justice fell unevenly on women and was influenced by factors such as place of apprehension, the nature of the crime, the victim of the crime, and the year of prosecution, as well as societal-level differences in attitudes towards women's culpability. The conclusion explores the implications of these historical findings for contemporary atrocity crimes accountability.

Author

• Jessica Trisko Darden, Virginia Commonwealth University