In this article, the author traces the main contours of the emergence of the concept of 'enemy nationalities' in the Stalin era, 1937-45. By 1938, 'fifth columnists' - suspected agents of foreign governments - dominated Soviet arrests of internal enemies. This xenophobic wave corresponded with the emergence by the eve of the Second World War of a Soviet policy that targeted ethnic minorities living in strategic borderland zones. Stalinist deportation policies in 1944-5 represented a continuation of these pre-war initiatives. The article focuses on the Soviet struggle against Chechen mountain guerrilla forces during the Second World War. By 1939, the Caucasus had become a vitally important Soviet strategic zone that supplied more than 90 percent of Soviet gas and fuel reserves. Hostile mountain conditions and tremendous popular sympathy facilitated tactical manoeuvring of guerrilla forces, who by and large eluded or successfully ambushed Soviet units. The Soviet secret police therefore relied heavily on dezorganizatsiia: disorganization of the Chechen national movement from within. Stymied on the battlefield, Soviet police won the war in Chechnya during 1942-4 by playing Chechen leaders off against one another; by sowing dissension in their ranks; by leaking false rumours about Chechen leaders; by pressuring family members and religious leaders; and by isolating Chechen guerrillas from their base with the mass deportation of the indigenous peoples of the North Caucasus in 1944.
Focusing in particular on the German-Soviet war in the East, this article explores variations in patterns of sexual violence associated with armed forces in Europe during and immediately after World War II. Besides soldier violence perpetrated against civilian populations, a significant role was also played by irregular forces: most notably, by partisan guerrillas and civilian vigilantes. Ethnic nationalist partisan forces perpetrated especially brutal sexual violence against women and girls of “enemy” nationalities. Likewise, after liberation civilian reprisals were fairly common throughout Europe against so-called “sexual collaborators”—that is, against women excoriated for providing “sexual comfort” to the enemy during the German occupation.
“We do not fear the open enemies, but rather the ones who with a friendly word on their lips come to us in order to tear our soul to pieces, to sow the seed of dissension in our hearts.” Iu. Klen, The Cursed Years
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