Women - men - gender. - Bibliothek der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

30
SOCIAL DEMOCRACY
International Women’s Day in Berlin
Right-wing Women are as Extremist as Me
Since women have played a marginal and sub-ordinate
role in historical research, the impression
gained ground that most women – both during the
period of national socialism and in the contemporary
Right-wing extremist milieu – were mostly
fellow travelers. But this is a fallacy, as a programme
on International Women’s Day in Berlin explored.
Even during the Nazi period, several women were
actively involved in the pursuit of national-socialist
goals, although, according to the offi cial role
model of women, they were confi ned to their role
as mothers. The Cologne feminist theatre group,
‘Generationenkomplott’, that does political satire,
exposed this ideal of womanhood as a myth in its
play “radio revue”. Original texts from the Nazi
period revealed how much women also cheered
and encouraged the regime.
The contemporary scenario is similar. Women in
the Right-wing extremist milieu are perceived as
fellow travelers, although they are no less of extremists
than their male counterparts. However, they
play an active role behind the scenes, accepting the
role of housewife and mother. At the same time,
Right-wing women’s organizations are preparing
“women comrades” in a very focused manner for
political careers. During the course of the programme,
women politicians warned that, nice
young mothers from the National Democratic
Party of Germany (NPD) and from other organizations
are active in parents’ associations, they procure
loans, organize rooms, and are successful,
because at fi rst glance they appear so harmless.
Life Style of the Far Right
There are numerous organizations and party organizations,
in which Right-wing women are active,
for example, the women’s organization Ring of National
Women in Thuringia. The FES Thuringia
offi ce, together with the local level representatives
responsible for gender equality, has for years been
organizing seminars on this issue. In the course of
these seminars, the strategies of Right-wing extremist
women activists and their organizations are
put under the scanner and their efforts at recruitment
expounded on. The seminars deal with reality,
for example, they engage with the typical life
style in a Right-wing extremist milieu and the music
of the Neo-Nazis.
As Fanatical as the Men
In 2008, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a
German-Polish women’s forum, which was established
in 1996 with the help of the FES, delibe rated
upon the issue of Right-wing extremist women.
The discussions revealed that the Right-wing extremist
women’s scene in Poland is not as systematically
organized as is the case in Western Pomerania.
Nevertheless, the following applies equally to
both sides of the border: these young women are as
hostile to foreigners and as fanatical as are their
male counterparts. It is a cliché to say that they
entered this milieu through friends. Very often it is
in fact girl-friends and sisters, who make the fi rst
contact. The main problem, especially on the
German side of the border, is that far too little is
being done for the youth in rural areas, so that
Right-wing extremist groups appear to offer the
only escape from boredom.
FRIEDRICH-EBERT-STIFTUNG