The (Nazi) Girl Next Door

Next week the trial of Beate Zschäpe, member of the National Socialist Underground, begins in Munich.  Ms. Zschäpe is charge with being an accessory to the murder of ten people, mostly individuals with Turkish background, during a six-year racist rampage throughout Germany.

Ms. Zschäpe was described by neighbors as a "nice girl" (herzensgut) who unfortunately fell in with the wrong men. Whatever role she played in the murders was performed out of loyalty or love, not any political conviction.  This brings of up the cliché of the "Nazi Bride" (Nazibraut), those naive women who stay home to cook and clean while their Nazi menfolk are out knocking heads or – in this case – killing people in cold blood. 

But the cliché is completely wrong, according to Das Forschungs- netzwerk Frauen und Rechtsextremismus (Research Network Women and Right-wing Extremism). The women involved in the neo-Nazi groups are hardly passive fellow travelers (Mitläuferinnen). Rather, they are often key players – even instigators – of right-wing violence, and are often more fanatical than their boyfriends or husbands.  The Forschungsnetzwerk published an open letter – (pdf warning)  concerning the upcoming trial of Beate Zschäpe, urging the court to take her participation in the NSU seriously: 

Ohne das Engagement von Mädchen und Frauen würde die extreme Rechte weder lebensweltlich noch ideologisch funktionieren: sie sind aktiver Part in Skinheadgruppen, Kameradschaften, extrem rechten Parteien und Terrorgruppen. Häufig üben sie Funktionen in den Bereichen Vernetzung, Kommunikation, Organisation, Logistik, Finanzierung, Tarnung, Recherche- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit aus und übernehmen damit Aufgaben, ohne die extrem rechte Terrorakte, Morde und Überfälle kaum denkbar wären. Zum anderen sind auch in der Vergangenheit seit 1945 extrem rechte Frauen als Anstifterinnen,vorbereitende Kaderinnen, Fluchthelferinnen und gewalttätige Täterinnen in Erscheinung getreten und dafür zum Teil zu Haftstrafen verurteilt worden. All dies steht im Widerspruch zum Versuch extrem rechter Frauenorganisationen, die Gewaltbereitschaft der Szene zu leugnen und für eine vermeintliche „Politik derHarmlosigkeit“ einzustehen.

(The extreme right-wing would not be able to function tactically or ideologically without the active engagement of girls and women: they are active participants in skinhead groups, Kameradschaften, right-wing extremist parties and terror groups.  Often they play critical roles in coordination, communication, organization, logistics, finance, concealment, research and public relations and therefore take on tasks that are essential for the carrying out of of terrorist acts, murder, and assaults. In the past, since 1945, extreme right-wing women have been active as cadres, provocateurs, escape helpers and violent criminals and have been sent to prison.  ALl of this runs counter to the the attempt to paint extreme right-wing women;s groups as politically harmless.) 

German authorities botched the investigation into the NSU terror acts for over a decade. Hopefully they won't botch the trial of Beate Zschäpe.