A study of the female guilt in the Thrid Reich
Translated title
Eine Analyse der weiblichen Täterschaft im Dritten Reich
Author
Hagerup, Stine Lykke
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2017
Submitted on
2017-12-31
Pages
61
Abstract
Denne afhandling undersøger den kvindelige gerningsdeltagelse i Det Tredje Rige og hvordan kvinder udnyttede deres køn både under forbrydelserne og i efterkrigstidens retssager. Udgangspunktet er, at forestillingen om kvinder som først og fremmest hustruer og mødre – med fokus på frugtbarhed og ”arisk” arv – længe skjulte, at mange kvinder aktivt støttede og medvirkede til nazismens forbrydelser. Afhandlingen kombinerer hermeneutisk og historisk metode og analyserer tre centrale cases (Herta Oberheuser, Ilse Koch og Lina Heydrich) suppleret af eksempler på KZ-opsynskvinder, sygeplejersker og skrivebordsgerningskvinder for at vise, at kvinders medvirken spændte over forskellige funktioner og professioner. Teoretisk inddrages gerningsforskning, begrebet om handlemuligheder (agency), antisemitisme samt kønsstereotyper og det nazistiske kvindebillede, herunder SS-hustruers særlige position. Analysen peger på, at mange kvinder havde betydelige handlemuligheder, ikke blot fulgte ordrer, men ofte traf egne beslutninger; samtidig blev de efter krigen sjældent retsforfulgt og ofte mildere straffet, delvist fordi samtidens og eftertidens kønsforestillinger gjorde deres voldsudøvelse svær at erkende. Afhandlingen sætter disse fund ind i en forskningshistorisk udvikling fra 1960’ernes fokus på kvinder som ofre og modstandere til 1990’ernes debat og en senere mellemposition, og den dokumenterer, at kvinders medvirken var omfattende, samt hvorfor dette i årtier blev nedtonet.
This thesis examines women’s participation as perpetrators in the Third Reich and how they mobilized gender both during crimes and in postwar trials. It starts from the observation that the prevailing image of women as wives and mothers—with emphasis on fertility and the “Aryan” lineage—long obscured the fact that many women actively supported and contributed to Nazi crimes. Using hermeneutic and historical methods, the study analyzes three key cases (Herta Oberheuser, Ilse Koch, and Lina Heydrich) and complements them with examples of camp guards, nurses, and desk perpetrators to show that women’s involvement spanned diverse roles and professions. The theoretical framework includes perpetrator research, the concept of agency, antisemitism, and gender stereotypes and the Nazi ideal of womanhood, including the specific position of SS wives. The analysis indicates that many women possessed considerable agency, not merely following orders but often making independent decisions; at the same time, they were rarely prosecuted after the war and frequently received lighter sentences, partly because contemporary and postwar gender norms made their violence hard to acknowledge. The thesis situates these arguments within the historiographical shift from the 1960s focus on women as victims and resisters to the 1990s debate and a later middle ground, and it documents both the breadth of women’s participation and the reasons it remained marginalized for decades.
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