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This study examines the ways in which the German female body is represented in the official National Socialist party's magazine, NS FrauenWarte, published from 1934 to 1944. Analyses of the female body visuals help reveal the Nazi regime's ideology and expectations of women within the Third Reich. Based on semiotic analysis of representations and illustrations appearing in 77 of the magazine's issues, the study reads the female body as a site of negotiation on the Nazi women's role in the German society. Ostensibly, we would expect representations appearing in essentially a propaganda magazine to portray Nazi ideology's definition of women's expected role in Nazi society. However, the findings indicate contradictions between various representations appearing in the magazine and Nazi ideology as expressed by leading Nazi ideologues. The magazine presents both "feminine," healthy, and maternal bodies suited for nurturing "Hitler's children," as well as sexual and athletic body images, seemingly incompatible with Nazi ideology. In addressing these contradictions, this paper reveals Nazi ideology's dynamism and complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In early March 1939 the Nazi women's leader (Reichsfrauenfühererin) Gertrud Scholtz-Klink made a little-known visit to London at the invitation of the Women’s League of Health and Beauty and the Anglo-German Fellowship. Taking place against the background of intense efforts to maintain peace, and growing expectations of war, the visit prompted a variety of responses from British women activists. Through analysing these responses, as well as examining why this visit has been overlooked in historical writing, this article sheds new light both on women’s particular contribution to appeasement and on the gendering and feminising of internationalist activism in the aftermath of the First World War more generally. The German intentions behind accepting the invitation, the protests by a small number of London-based anti-fascist women and the reason why even some pro-appeasement women like Nancy Astor refused to meet Scholtz-Klink, are also explored. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article examines the dancer, actress, filmmaker and photographer Leni Riefenstahl, focusing upon her work for the Nazis. Particular focus is given to her films including "Victory of Faith" and "Triumph of the Will." Additional topics examined include her contributions to the efforts of the dictator Adolf Hitler and National Socialism, what the author describes as Riefenstahl's eroticized aesthetic, and insights on Riefenstahl's filmmaking techniques.

A biography is provided of the Nazi German aviator and test pilot Hanna Reitsch. Particular focus is given to role in support of the German Nazi regime from 1933 through the end of World War II, including her reconnaissance mission to rescue the German leader Adolf Hitler in Soviet-occupier Berlin, Germany in 1945. Reitsch life in post-World War II West Germany is discussed.

Purpose -- Criminological, historical, and sociological research has con-tinually 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 envir-onment, 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 perpetra-tors 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 often 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on "Biografie und Geschlecht," a gender studies workshop that focused on the importance of gender in biographies. It was held at the Friedrich-Schiller University in Jena, Germany on April 7, 2011. Topics discussed included the diary entries of three German women that were written in 1934, the lives of the German National Socialist (Nazi) Party member Else Frobenius and the socialist Anna Siemsen, and the biographies of several East German women politicians.

This article focuses on the life and political activities of Jutta Rüdiger, a German National Socialist (Nazi) and child psychologist who became the head of the Bund Deutscher Mädchen (BDM, or League of German Girls), which was a Nazi youth movement for girls, in 1937. Several topics are discussed, including the history of the BDM and who led the BDM in Germany, how Rüdiger met the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler in February 1938, and how she created a chapter of the BDM called "Glaube und Schönheit" ("Faith and Beauty") in order to keep the 18 to 21 year old members of the BDM from switching over to other Nazi women's groups. Also mentioned is that Rüdiger was very careful about dressing and looking fashionable in order to attract more girls to her group.

The utilization and role of female combatants in modern armies is a subject generally fraught with half-truths and misinformation. The mobilization of women in supporting roles during the Second World War is generally well understood, but the German use of women as combatants in the last years of the war raises important issues of women's place in the Nazi state and ideology as well as considerations of gender and military service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores changing biographical narratives and historiography related to Nazi and fascist women. The author reflects on gender hierarchy in politics and the biographies of women such as Teréz Mészáros and Erzsébet Rátz. Social changes in feminist biographical research are described in relation to the influence of the women's movement. Other topics include celebratory aspects of biography, the extreme Right in political history, and the political agency of women in masculine organizations.

The text is less a review of the new literature than a reflection on significant and innovative current trends in the historiography on women and gender in the National Socialist era. The first part deals with various women's activities within milieus and professions, including their room for manoeuvre: midwives, social workers, female Nazi functionaries, and female auxiliary workers of the Nazi Wehrmacht. The second part of the article addresses specific features of biopolitics, targeted not only against Jews but also against asocial women, homosexuals and prostitutes. It also looks at visual images of bodies. Although the Nazis tried to create strongly determined binaries to categorize 'we' and 'the others' in the arts and other propaganda material, there existed, in fact, a broad spectrum of body images, especially among media stars. A third trend in the history of the Third Reich deals not only with the politics of exclusion but also of inclusion, as found in the concept of Volksgemeinschaft (national community), a concept that had many facets, such as the Volksfamilie, comradeship and home front. And it was the media that had the task of 'translating' this concept to the people in many appealing ways. The fourth part considers the gendering of memories after 1945 and the dominance of male narratives and points of view. The four parts of the article are intended to contribute to intersectional history and the history of social engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]