BeFreier und Befreite

BEFREIER UND BEFREITE is the result of a long-term research project  relating to the mass rapes carried out by the Red Army at the end of the Second World War. Over 190 minutes and across two parts, the director presents concrete figures about the extent of these violent crimes for the very first time. She interviews women who were raped, former members of the Red Army both male and female, and the children created from these acts of violence and edits together their statements with archival material and documents. Any attempt to milk the subject for emotion is avoided, not least to exclude any sort of revenge-oriented interpretations. Helke Sander’s clear focus is on establishing that rape was used a means of war rather than delving into questions of guilt and justice. The events of 1945 are to be seen as exemplary, an assertion that was proven right in brutal fashion shortly after the film premiered at the Berlinale, when the Yugoslavian Wars led to mass attacks on Bosnian women.