“YOU ARE SEDUCED BY GERMAN WOMEN WHOSE HUSBANDS HAVE VISITED ALL THE BROTHELS IN EUROPE...”. LIBERATION OF EUROPE FROM FASCISM BY THE RED ARMY IN 1944-1945 IN THE LIGHT OF NEW ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS
The theme of mass rapes allegedly committed by the Red Army in Germany at the final stage of the Great Patriotic war is now one of the most common anti-Russian myths in the West, which originates from Goebbels’ propaganda and denigrates the Soviet soldier-liberator in the eyes of new generations who have not seen the war, who do not remember the horrors of the Nazi occupation, or the joy of liberation. The author has repeatedly addressed the topic of “the violated chastity of Europe”, exposing the cynical lie about “millions of raped German women”, “torn apart by hordes of Bolshevik barbarians”, which pops up in the world information space for each anniversary of the Victory over fascism. Meanwhile, any army that finds itself on foreign territory, especially on the territory of the enemy, inevitably faces problems of a disciplinary nature. And then the extent of deviant behavior of military personnel depends on the attitude of the army leadership, which can take the most severe measures to punish the perpetrators and prevent such crimes in the future, or can turn a blind eye to them, condone and even encourage. This article, based on recently declassified archival documents, considers the problem of the growth of venereal diseases in the troops of the advancing Red Army in 1944-1945 and examines the attitude of the Soviet military command to it in comparison with the experience of solving similar problems in the armies of the opponents and allies during the Second World War.