Not Supposed to be Born?

Abstract

Drawing from two published literary narratives, the German wartime diary by Anonymous, A Woman in Berlin, and the novel based on women’s testimonies of war rape and unwanted pregnancies in Bosnia by Slavenka Drakulić, S.: A Novel About the Balkans, in addition to published testimonies and unpublished interview data by now young adult (in the case of Bosnia) and elderly (in the case of Germany) children born of war rape (CBOWR), this article examines the intergenerational impact of wartime sexual violence. Applying feminist narrative analysis, the authors demonstrate the situation of “impossible motherhood” and experiences of children who were not supposed to be born. The article focuses on the narrative process marked by trauma but also by agency and resilience so as to challenge dominant stories of war and unwanted pregnancy following rape in armed conflict. The authors propose a resolution of tensions around the ethnic identity of CBOWR along their maternal lineage rather than the imposition of the paternal heritage of the enemy.