To read this content please select one of the options below:

Not all Nazis are men: Women’s underestimated potential for violence in German Neo-Nazism. Continuation of the past or novel phenomenon?

Gendered Perspectives on Conflict and Violence: Part B

ISBN: 978-1-78350-893-8

Publication date: 18 June 2014

Abstract

Purpose

Criminological, historical, and sociological research has continually underestimated women’s violent potential in the German Neo-Nazism movement. Contemplating this leads to questions about female agency in the Third Reich, a link that has not been established yet. This chapter seeks to expose this link, arguing that regardless of social environment, changing gender roles or political situation, Neo-Nazi women and women, in general, have a potential for violence in the public sphere.

Design/methodology/approach

The chapter looks at female perpetrators in both the Third Reich and the contemporary Neo-Nazi period and examines their involvement from the overarching theoretical viewpoint that women are not any less capable of violent crimes than men.

Findings

The scope of Neo-Nazi women’s aggression and violence is not a modern phenomenon or an exception. Their invisibility is not a result of their suggested passive involvement; it stems from the public’s and institutions’ inability to perceive them as agents of violence. Bourdieu developed the concept of symbolic violence to characterize the violence experienced by victims who accept their societal subordination. It is shown that because researchers, officials, and the public reified the concept; they overlooked the reality that women can exercise their agency beyond the limits of their roles as wife and mother and commit violent acts.

Research limitations/implications

Reliable data are not available on the number of violent female Neo-Nazis. It is likely, however, that the numbers given are an underestimation.

Social implications

Law enforcement agencies have long overlooked women as potential offenders. A basic change in perspective is needed to better identify female perpetrators.

Originality/value of paper

The chapter is based on the murders of ten immigrants between 2000 and 2006, which puzzled investigators over a decade. Nobody suspected a woman was a key member of the group thought to be responsible for these murders.

Keywords

Citation

Dauber, A.S. (2014), "Not all Nazis are men: Women’s underestimated potential for violence in German Neo-Nazism. Continuation of the past or novel phenomenon?", Gendered Perspectives on Conflict and Violence: Part B (Advances in Gender Research, Vol. 18B), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 171-194. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-21262014000018B011

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014 Emerald Group Publishing Limited