Trauma – Memory – Warning. Sexual Violence in Armed Conflicts
Sexual violence in armed conflicts is a global phenomenon. It has devastating consequences for victims and survivors alike, causing trauma and destroying families and social structures across generations. In conflicts long past, sexual violence was hardly documented or greatly marginalised. Such acts are now punishable under international law. Nevertheless, the voices of most survivors still go unheard.
The aim of the conference is to review the current state of interdisciplinary research. Renowned international scholars will address the topic from different geographical, regional, and temporal perspectives, asking how sexual violence in wars is situated within different cultures of remembrance.
The conference is held in German and English. Simultaneous translation will be provided.
PROGRAMME
9.15 - 9.30 a.m.
Welcome
Dr. Christin Pschichholz, Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion and Reconciliation
9.30 - 11.00 a.m.
Panel 1: Sexual Violence in Armed Conflicts: Forms, Explanations and Visibility
Chair: Dr. Claudia Kemper, LWL-Institut für westfälische Regionalschichte Münster
Dr. Regina Mühlhäuser, Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung:
Scandalisation and tabooing. How do we understand rape and other forms of sexual violence in armed conflicts?
Prof. em. Dr. Rolf Pohl, Gottfried Wilhelm-Leibniz-Universität Hannover:
Sexual violence in civilian life and in war. On gender, sexism and destructive sexuality in male-dominated societies
Helen Upcraft, Imperial War Museum, London:
Unsilenced: An Exhibition about Sexual Violence
Conversation
11.00 - 11.15 a.m.
Break
11.15 a.m. - 12.45 p.m.
Panel 2: When can survivors speak? Perspectives in the context of the Second World War
Chair: Prof. Dr. Sebastian Conrad, Freie Universität Berlin
Dr. Sachiyo Tsukamoto, University of Newcastle (AUS):
“Comfort Women”: From Personal Trauma to Collective Integrity
Dr. Insa Eschebach, Freie Universität Berlin:
Types of sexual violence during the Second World War: Wehrmacht, SS, Red Army
Prof. Dr. Maren Röger, Leibniz-Institut für Geschichte und Kultur des östlichen Europa (GWZO)/ Universität Leipzig:
Loud speech, eloquent silence: On sexual violence by the Red Army during the war and the comparative treatment after 1945
Conversation
12.45 - 2.30 p.m.
Lunch-Break
2.30 - 4.00 p.m.
Panel 3: Rwanda and Bosnia: The Long Shadows of Violence
Chair: Dr. Sabine Rutar, Leibniz-Instituts für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung, Regensburg
Dr. Jennie E. Burnet, Georgia State University, USA:
From Solidarity to Abandonment: How International Activism Tokenized Rwandan Genocide Sexual Violence Survivors
Dr. Monika Hauser, medica mondiale e.V.:
Weapon of war or patriarchal continuum? Dimensions of sexualised war violence – experiences of medica mondiale since Bosnia and Herzegovina
Prof. Dr. Heide Glaesmer, Universität Leipzig:
Children of war – concealed origins and intergenerational consequences
Conversation
4.00 - 4.15 p.m.
Break
Panel 4: Current Conflicts and New Dimensions of Sexualised Violence
Chair: Dr. Alex Kay, Universität Potsdam
Dr. Alexander Schwarz, European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights e.V.:
Gender-based violence against Yazidi women and the role of international criminal justice
Dr. Sabine Fischer, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Berlin:
Russia's war in Ukraine: Sexual violence against men and women
Prof. Dr. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, Bar-Ilan-Universität, Ramat Gan:
Accountability for Conflict Related Sexual Violence: October 7 as a Case-Study
Conversation
5.45 - 6.00 p.m.
Break
6.00 - 7.30 p.m.
Panel conversation:
This concluding panel discussion will examine how sexual violence in armed conflicts can be incorporated into historical awareness and remembrance activities. What role can visual forms of remembrance play in this context? What is required to ensure the issue is not viewed as a 'women's issue', but as a challenge for society and security policy as a whole?
Guest-Speakers:
Dr. Monika Hauser, medica mondiale e.V.
Dr. Regina Mühlhäuser, Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung
Düzen Tekkal, HÁWAR.help
Dr. Maria Werthan, Honorary President of the Women's Association of the Federation of Expellees
Moderator: Prof. Dr. Kerstin von Lingen, Universität Wien
FURTHER INFORMATION
Admission: 9.00 p.m.
Language: The conference is held in German and English. Simultaneous translation will be provided.
FREE ADMISSION
- Opening Evening
November 4, 6.00 - 9.00 p.m. -
Workshop: Genocide against the Yazidis: Remembering and Documenting
November 6, 10.00 a.m. - 12.00 p.m. -
Workshop: Painting as a way to express inner feelings. Biographical workshop
November 6, 10.00 a.m. - 12.00 p.m.
The event is being held in cooperation with the Women's Association of the Federation of Expellees (Frauenverband im Bund der Vertriebenen e.V.) and HÁWAR help e.V.
Supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Berlin Senate and the Mitte district.