Eastern European Women During World War II

Eastern European Women in World War II

Eastern European women did not fear death during World War II as they went to war with their husbands, brothers, and fathers[1]. However, most women during WWII did not. People tend to regard men as protagonists in wars because they are often the ones fighting at the frontline. Heroic stories of male soldiers fighting at the frontline have been passed along in almost every single country. The society feels sympathy towards soldiers for their physical pain they have undertaken on the battlefield. However, women and their involvement in wars also gave men morale to fight hard not to let women down. These roles sometimes seemed insignificant are often not being paid attention to. There are some women whose aim was not to fight in the World War II but to nurse those that got hurt during the war.

Physical and Mental Damages of Eastern European Women

Those Eastern European women that fought during WWII suffered from both physical and mental damages that are as vital as those done by bullets. Women are said to be weak emotionally, and thus they also suffered emotional distress from losing family members and friends. When their enemies caught women that were involved in the war, they harassed them sexually. This type of harassment caused women psychological problems[2]. Sexual manipulation was a significant threat to the European women that participated in the war as some were sexually harassed and left to die. Some survived even after being sexually harassed but could not support men for long during the war since they got pregnant and thus they had to go back home to give birth and nurse their kids.

Emotional Distress of Eastern European Women

Intense emotions of being isolated and feeling lonely have been seen from Eastern European women who lived in the Gulag which is one way of how women suffer from emotional distress. A Polish woman who lived in the Gulag during WWII, Franciszka Dul showed unstable emotions and stress at the camp through a letter she wrote to her husband. In the letter, Franciszka wrote “how much will I have to talk about for all those long three years that we have been separated? How many tears and unhappiness during that time that I’ve lived through I shall tell you about when again we are together?”[3], showing her longing for her missing husband and the unbearable pain for missing her family. Throughout Franciszka’s letter, she frantically writes incoherent sentences which shows her unstable emotions and stress experienced at the camps and her numerous interjections along with multiple repetitive phrases like ”dearest husband”[4] shows her stream of consciousness, which even emphasizes her volatile feelings and inexpressible anxiety for losing her family.

Separation of Families and Its Long-term Effects

Moreover, the separation of families had affected millions of women who lived along, and the anguish for them was overwhelming[5]. Franciszka is captured and sent to the labor camp away from home while her husband is in the Anders Army, and her children are sent to the Soviet orphanage whereabouts unknown. Franciszka never heard back from her husband but kept trying to write to him, showing her agony for missing her husband and wishes to reunite with him by keeping asking her husband whether he remembers what has happened in the past between them. Similar to Franciszka’s situation, there were many other women also separated from their families due to the war which could have a long-term effect on the society for generations. These effects include children being raised by single parents, and also some became orphans — this increased poverty in society leading to various crimes such as theft which was done by people to satisfy their basic needs. Many in society also got different psychological effects due to things such as merciless bombing and killing of people during the war. Those that witnessed their loved ones and friends being killed were affected more.

Sexual Manipulation and Trauma

While being separated from family and being isolated can cause mental damage to those women living alone during the war, many women also suffered from severe sexual manipulation which caused afterward trauma for them. A young Polish woman Anna Cieslikowska, who spent several years in the Gulag accounted for her experience of being sent to the camp and described her experience of taking a bath ”intolerable.” Based on Anna’s account of her experience, she was forced to bath under the supervision of male personnel, and she had to overcome the shame and humiliation, clench your teeth and control yourself, to endure the dirty jokes calmly[6]. Anna felt being personally shamed but had no choice but to swallow her anger and try not to ”spit at those hideous faces, or punch them between the eyes”[7]. Similarly, a woman who lived in Berlin after the war kept a journal and published it under an anonymous name regarding her own experience about being raped and sexually assaulted by men after the war. She admitted how she ”[kept noticing] how her feelings towards men [and all the other women]are changing, and she [felt] sorry for them; they seem so miserable and powerless — the weaker sex. Deep down women are experiencing a kind of a collective disappointment”[8]. Her experience of herself getting involved in a few sexual relationships with men, whether it was consensual or not, told her about the role of wartime women.

Discrimination and Equal Pay

Manipulation of women by men was widespread during the war. The most common way that women were manipulated is through discrimination.[9]

The men even discriminated women that they worked with during the war to fight their enemies. During World War II, most women participated by running various firms that were used in the creation of weapons there were used in fighting.[10] They also played a significant role in the construction of different ship and airplanes that were used during the war. Women were also drivers of fire trains and engines and also nursed various people that go hurt during the fight.[11]

At the end of World War II, most men went back to their jobs leaving women jobless. Also, regardless of the experience, they had in the engineering sector while in those factories constructing the ship and other fire engines, the unskilled jobs were also referred to as ”women’s job.” It was too hard for women to get an equal pay since various women at Hillington in the Rolls Royce firm complained about being given low amounts that even the unskilled men.

Conclusion

Women suffered from both physical and mental damages while fighting during World War II, among which stand out emotional distress for being constantly manipulated. While the hardships and wounds of male soldiers during the war are noteworthy for the impact they have on them, the female experience of the war is equally remarkable. The impairments that the warfare had left on those women are irreparable, and the history of abuse - both physically and mentally - of women must be acknowledged and recognized. Women should not also be discriminated as they played the same roles as men during World War II and they also experienced what men experienced.[12]

For instance, if women were able to come up with weapons that were of help during the war, what made them be denied jobs? Through this was one way that discouraged women a lot and also soused some more some financial problems. Various women lost their husbands during the war and denying them jobs or making them work for low payments made them miserable, and it was hard for them to nurture their children. Women should get appreciated for the excellent work they did during World War II.

Bibliography

Svetlana Alexievich, The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War I. (New York, Random House, 2017), xii.

Letter from Franciszka Dul to Her Husband, Stainslaw Dul, in ”Why Did He Ruin Our Happiness?”, trans. Irena Czernichowska, in Jehanne M. Gheith, and Katherine R. Julluck, Gulag Voices: Oral Histories of Soviet Incarceration and Exile, (New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 215-216.

Anonymous and Philip Boehm, A woman in Berlin: eight weeks in the conquered city: a diary. (New York, Metropolitan Books, 2005), 42.

Webb, Elizabeth Alice, Diana Kuh, Andrzej Pajak, Ruzena Kubinova, Sofia Malyutina, and Martin Bobak. ”Estimation of secular trends in adult height, and childhood socioeconomic circumstances in three Eastern European populations.“ Economics & Human Biology 6, no. 2 (2008): 228-236.

Lobodzinska, Barbara. ”Women’s Employment or Return to“ Family Values” in Central-Eastern Europe.“ Journal of Comparative Family Studies

(1996): 519-544.

Chafe, William H., and William Henry Chafe. The Unfinished Journey: America Since World War II. Oxford University Press, USA, 2003.

Tasker, Yvonne. Soldiers’ Stories: Military Women in Cinema and Television Since World War II. Duke University Press, 2018.

Jeffries, John W. Wartime America: The World War II Home Front. Rowman & Littlefield, 2018.

Geiger, Roger L. Research and relevant knowledge: American research universities since World War II. Routledge, 2017.

Hutchinson, John. Champions of charity: war and the rise of the Red Cross. Routledge, 2018.

Baylis, John, Steve Smith, and Patricia Owens, eds. The globalization of world politics: an introduction to international relations. Oxford University Press, 2017.

Stetz, Margaret D., and Bonnie BC Oh. Legacies of the comfort women of World War II. Routledge, 2015.

Diamond, Hanna. Women and the Second World War in France, 1939-1948: Choices and Constraints. Routledge, 2015.

Doepke, Matthias, Moshe Hazan, and Yishay D. Maoz. ”The baby boom and World War II: A macroeconomic analysis.“ The Review of Economic Studies 82, no. 3 (2015): 1031-1073.

Meilinger, Phillip S. ”Trenchard and“ Morale Bombing”: The Evolution of Royal Air Force Doctrine Before World War II 1.“ In Warfare in Europe 1919–1938, pp. 193-220. Routledge, 2017.

[1]Svetlana Alexievich, The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War I. (New York, Random House, 2017), xii.

[2] Tasker, Yvonne. Soldiers’ Stories: Military Women in Cinema and Television Since World War II. Duke University Press, 2018.

[3]Letter from Franciszka Dul to Her Husband, Stainslaw Dul, in ”Why Did He Ruin Our Happiness?”, trans. Irena Czernichowska, in Jehanne M. Gheith, and Katherine R. Julluck, Gulag Voices: Oral Histories of Soviet Incarceration and Exile, (New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 215-216.

[4]Ibid.

                  [5] Geiger, Roger L. Research and relevant knowledge: American research universities since World War II. Routledge, 2017.

[6]Ibid.

[7]Ibid.

[8]Anonymous and Philip Boehm, A woman in Berlin: eight weeks in the conquered city: a diary. (New York, Metropolitan Books, 2005), 42.

[9] Webb, Elizabeth Alice, Diana Kuh, Andrzej Pajak, Ruzena Kubinova, Sofia Malyutina, and Martin Bobak. ”Estimation of secular trends in adult height, and childhood socioeconomic circumstances in three Eastern European populations.“ Economics & Human Biology 6, no. 2 (2008): 228-236.

[10] Meilinger, Phillip S. ”Trenchard and“ Morale Bombing”: The Evolution of Royal Air Force Doctrine Before World War II 1.“ In Warfare in Europe 1919–1938, pp. 193-220. Routledge, 2017.

[11] Webb, Elizabeth Alice, Diana Kuh, Andrzej Pajak, Ruzena Kubinova, Sofia Malyutina, and Martin Bobak. ”Estimation of secular trends in adult height, and childhood socioeconomic circumstances in three Eastern European populations.“ Economics & Human Biology 6, no. 2 (2008): 228-236.

            [12] Chafe, William H., and William Henry Chafe. The Unfinished Journey: America Since World War II. Oxford University Press, USA, 2003.