Rape Warfare

Rape Warfare

The Hidden Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia

Beverly Allen

$25.00 Cloth/jacket
ISBN: 0-8166-2818-1
ISBN-13: 978-0-8166-2818-6

"This all began for me in August 1992, when I got a phone call at my home in Palo Alto from M., a former student, saying she had something to show me. . . .What she showed me were her translations of dozens of testimonies of Croatian and Bosnian women who had survived two things I had never before imagined: rape/death camps and what we later came to recognize as genocidal rape. . . . My initial disbelief abandoned me to the greater horror of conviction as I read on and on. These documents were signed; several had photographs attached. Whoever these women were, they were willing to be known, and this meant that their lives were still at risk. From that day on, I have been seeking answers to one burning question: what can I do about it? This essay is one response."

A shocking and impassioned exposé of new and horrifying methods of war in the Balkans.

In 1992, Beverly Allen learned of the existence of rape/death camps in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia from a former student, a woman of Croatian heritage. In these camps, women were-and are still-being detained and raped repeatedly by Serbian soldiers, whose goal often is to impregnate their victims or to torture them before they are killed. In this highly personal account, Beverly Allen provides a compelling testimony and analysis of the horrifying phenomenon of "a military policy of rape for the purpose of genocide."

In Rape Warfare, Allen examines the complexity of identity in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia through the accounts of rape/death camp survivors and those who work to help them. She then presents and analyzes the information she has gathered about genocidal rape, all the while asking, "How can I, an empathizing outsider, communicate what is happening without reinforcing the damage that has already been done?" In a nuanced discussion of the ethics of representing such atrocities, she decides to "forgo storytelling except when the stories I tell are my own." Allen concludes with an impassioned argument for bringing to trial the perpetrators of genocidal rape. By turns personal, polemical, and informative, Rape Warfare is a lucid guide for anyone seeking to make sense of what is happening in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia.

"Beverly Allen presents an impassioned, well argued account of the purposeful military strategy designed by leaders of the Serbian army to destroy the non-Serbian population of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. For those who want to better understand the conflict and genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina, this book is a must read!" —Refugee Review

"This is a well-written book that ably documents its charges." —Peace and Change

"Rape Warfare is a compelling book and should be read by all military officers who will serve or are serving overseas. Rape Warfare calls for actions to help survivors, judge perpetrators and guard against future genocidal rape so we can move toward justice and peace in our disordered world." —Military Review

"Beverly Allen's Rape Warfare is a relentlessly researched and passionately argued document, decisively refuting the claim that the atrocities of the Bosnian War are no more than the usual unintended consequences of any war. She demonstrates that, on the contrary, Serb army leaders devised the strategy of systematic terror, based on the rape and murder of women, even before the fighting began. Ms. Allen's evidence is overpowering, from the texts of those secret meetings, to the voices of the women who suffered from this evil and the world's indifference." —Tobias Wolff, author of This Boy's Life and In Pharaoh's Army

Beverly Allen has spoken out in newspapers and on television and radio to raise awareness of rape/death camps. She teaches Italian, French, women's studies, and comparative literature at Syracuse University, where she is also the director of the humanities doctoral program.

208 pages | 5 1/4 x 8 | 1996

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Rape Warfare The Hidden Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia Beverly Allen		$25.00 Cloth/jacket ISBN: 0-8166-2818-1 ISBN-13: 978-0-8166-2818-6
"This all began for me in August 1992, when I got a phone call at my home in Palo Alto from M., a former student, saying she had something to show me. . . .What she showed me were her translations of dozens of testimonies of Croatian and Bosnian women who had survived two things I had never before imagined: rape/death camps and what we later came to recognize as genocidal rape. . . . My initial disbelief abandoned me to the greater horror of conviction as I read on and on. These documents were signed; several had photographs attached. Whoever these women were, they were willing to be known, and this meant that their lives were still at risk. From that day on, I have been seeking answers to one burning question: what can I do about it? This essay is one response." A shocking and impassioned exposé of new and horrifying methods of war in the Balkans. In 1992, Beverly Allen learned of the existence of rape/death camps in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia from a former student, a woman of Croatian heritage. In these camps, women were-and are still-being detained and raped repeatedly by Serbian soldiers, whose goal often is to impregnate their victims or to torture them before they are killed. In this highly personal account, Beverly Allen provides a compelling testimony and analysis of the horrifying phenomenon of "a military policy of rape for the purpose of genocide." In Rape Warfare, Allen examines the complexity of identity in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia through the accounts of rape/death camp survivors and those who work to help them. She then presents and analyzes the information she has gathered about genocidal rape, all the while asking, "How can I, an empathizing outsider, communicate what is happening without reinforcing the damage that has already been done?" In a nuanced discussion of the ethics of representing such atrocities, she decides to "forgo storytelling except when the stories I tell are my own." Allen concludes with an impassioned argument for bringing to trial the perpetrators of genocidal rape. By turns personal, polemical, and informative, Rape Warfare is a lucid guide for anyone seeking to make sense of what is happening in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. "Beverly Allen presents an impassioned, well argued account of the purposeful military strategy designed by leaders of the Serbian army to destroy the non-Serbian population of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. For those who want to better understand the conflict and genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina, this book is a must read!" —Refugee Review "This is a well-written book that ably documents its charges." —Peace and Change "Rape Warfare is a compelling book and should be read by all military officers who will serve or are serving overseas. Rape Warfare calls for actions to help survivors, judge perpetrators and guard against future genocidal rape so we can move toward justice and peace in our disordered world." —Military Review "Beverly Allen's Rape Warfare is a relentlessly researched and passionately argued document, decisively refuting the claim that the atrocities of the Bosnian War are no more than the usual unintended consequences of any war. She demonstrates that, on the contrary, Serb army leaders devised the strategy of systematic terror, based on the rape and murder of women, even before the fighting began. Ms. Allen's evidence is overpowering, from the texts of those secret meetings, to the voices of the women who suffered from this evil and the world's indifference." —Tobias Wolff, author of This Boy's Life and In Pharaoh's Army Beverly Allen has spoken out in newspapers and on television and radio to raise awareness of rape/death camps. She teaches Italian, French, women's studies, and comparative literature at Syracuse University, where she is also the director of the humanities doctoral program. 208 pages \| 5 1/4 x 8 \| 1996