This book offers a pioneering, interdisciplinary analysis of gender-based violence in Eastern Europe from the early modern period to the present. Through case studies of various Eastern European countries, the volume examines how empire, war, nationalism, socialism, and post-socialist transformation shaped legal, medical, and state responses to violence against women. It reveals how women's suffering was repeatedly silenced, normalized, or politicized, particularly in times of conflict and authoritarian rule. Challenging Western-centric perspectives, the book positions Eastern Europe as a vital site for understanding the historical roots of contemporary debates on gender, justice, and memory.

Provides new historical insights that expand and challenge existing gender-violence scholarship Reframes Western assumptions by presenting locally grounded historical and socio-legal evidence Reveals the deep impact of imperialism and ethnic hierarchies on women's experiences during conflict and crisis

Autorentext

Marianna Muravyeva is Professor at the University of Helsinki, Finland.

Sigita erneviit is Research Fellow at Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania.

Monika Rogers is Research Fellow at Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania.

Inhalt

Introduction.- 1. Violence Against Women and Social Control in Seventeenth-Century Vilnius.- 2. Body as Evidence: Forensics and Physical Evidence in the Eighteenth-Century Prosecutions for Sexual Violence.- 3. Violence and the Family: The Foundations of a New Domesticity and National Identity in Imperial Russia.- 4. Violence Against Women and the 1905 Revolution in the Baltic Provinces of the Russian Empire.- 5. Stigma or Insight? Analyzing the Role of Psychotrauma in Early 20th Century Hungarian Psychiatry.- 6. Femicide and Fatal Family Violence in the First Republic of Lithuania (19181940).- 7. State Visions and Social Realities: Intimate Partner Violence in Early Soviet Russia.- 8. Violence against women prisoners of Ravensbrück.- 9. Displacement and Danger: Women in Ghettos and Camps of Eastern Europe during the Holocaust.- 10. Sexual Abuse of Women in Soviet Occupied Lithuania: Legal and Political Dimensions of Rape.- 11. Who is the Victim to Blame? Ideal Victim and Violence Against Women in Soviet Lithuania.- 12. Combatting domestic and gender-based violence in Ukraine: from first days of the Independence to Russia's full-scale invasion.