Rotarmistinnen im Zweiten Weltkrieg: Motivationen, Einsatzbereiche und Erfahrungen von Frauen an der Front

This book chapter in the 2011 edited German volume Soldatinnen: Gewalt und Geschlecht im Krieg vom Mittelalter bis heute (Female Soldiers: Violence and Gender in War from the Middle Ages to the Present) discusses the motivation, participation, and  experiences of Red Army female soldiers  at the front lines during the Second World War. Between 570,000 and 800,000  women joined the Red Army as soldiers during the Second World War. Their participation peaked in the winter of 1943/44. Most of them volunteered for the patriotic motive to defend their endangered motherland. Their volunteering was supported, however,  by communist ideology which promised women equality. Only in 1943, started a form of conscription for young and single women, because the number of volunteers was declining. The female soldiers  were used in all postions and functions of the Red Army. After some reluctance by the male soldiers and officers, they became more and more accepted also at the front lines. But after World War II they were quickly forgotten and mainly the male heroes  were remembered.