In the wake of ongoing global concern over conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), this volume brings together innovative research on the gendered legacies of the Second World War across the “Global Easts.” Focusing on East Asia and the eastern parts of Europe, the book explores how sexual violence—ranging from the Japanese military’s “comfort women” system to the massive assaults committed by German and Soviet forces—has been remembered, silenced, or politicized in the decades that followed. The contributions span four thematic sections: from comparative analyses of wartime violence to postwar justice frameworks, patterns of selective remembrance, and media representations of gendered trauma.
Edited by Joohee Kim and Maren Röger, renowned scholars of gender and memory studies in the respective regions, the volume connects these global areas through their shared histories of imperial domination, Cold War divisions, and the belated surfacing of survivors’ voices. By uncovering these entanglements, the book offers a new conceptual and geographical lens on the Global Easts.
