Radical Racial Ideals and Sexual Violence: Rwanda, Bosnia, and Nazi Germany

Sexual violence greatly varies across and between different wars, and this paper examines the extent to which this also holds true for genocide. Specifically, it attempts to address why there was relatively little sexual violence against the Jews in Nazi Germany and during the Holocaust. By drawing upon theories concerning the escalation of war into genocide and ethnic cleansing, and the various potential mechanisms behind the use of sexual violence in such cases, the Holocaust is compared to the similar, yet unique, episodes of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Rwanda and Bosnia. After an examination of each case, it is concluded that sexual violence in Nazi Germany was limited because of the combination of and interaction between a set of unique characteristics and policies. 1 This paper was completed as the final project report for the Research Experience for Undergraduates at the Santa Fe Institute over the course of the 2005 summer. It was only with the support and guidance of Libby Wood, SFI research professor and Yale University political science professor, that this paper was