Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe – Institute of the Leibniz Association, Marburg, September 24-25, 2024
Chanting. Marching. Uniforms. Street violence. Men. These are the usual images when picturing the past and present Far-right. But what about the so-called “softer” face of the Far-right? What about women? Since late the 1920s, perhaps in every European country, new movements began to embraced ideas of Fascism, later Nazism, and eventually adopting more indigenous forms of the Far-right ideology. Since their very beginnings, and until present days, women have observed, supported, and participated in the European Far-right movements. They built their carriers within the ranks of these movements and contributed to their success.
Members of the Hlinka Youth-Girls, Bánovce nad Bebravou, Slovakia 1941. During the Day of the Hlinka Youth, the female members demonstrate their belonging to the far-right youth movement and their following of its ideology. Hlinka Youth was an organisation subordinated to the Hlinka Slovak People’s Party (HSPP), a far-right political party with a strong Catholic fundamentalist and authoritarian ideology, influence mostly by Italian and Austrian fascist parties, with an openly pro-Nazi faction. The HSPP was the ruling party during the existence of the wartime Slovak State (1939-1945), the ally of Nazi Germany. The Hlinka Youth, with its branches for Slovak boys and girls between 6 and 20, was formed as a single nationwide organisation after dissolution of youth associations and organisations in 1938. Source: Slovak National Archive, Fund Slovak Press Office 1939–1945, photography no. 9837
This two-days conference looks into the active participation of women in the Far-right movements and politics in 20th and 21st century Europe, with a focus on East Central, North-eastern and South-eastern Europe (and beyond). By using the umbrella term “Far-right”, this conference refers to and aims to cover various movements which have been defined by right-wing extremism, radical conservativism, ultra-nationalism, chauvinism, authoritarianism, and racism, such as various forms of Fascism, Nazism, Falangism, neo-fascism, neo-Nazism, the alt-right, white supremacism and other Far-right ideologies, movements, and regimes.
While at the first sight the Far-right seems to be a misogynist place, women have been essential for the movement, and have contributed to its attractiveness for both women and men. They soften the harsh, and thus have accomplished bringing the Far-right from the margins to the mainstream. One of the most effective opportunistic strategies for women of the Far-right is using women’s rights, and thus co-opting feminist arguments in some arenas, while being explicitly antifeminist. Thus, the inherent paradox of women in the Far-right movements is to advocate for the traditional gender roles and gender hierarchy, and at the same time leading the movement. Far from being objects of men in the Far-right, women had their agency, their plans on how to participate in the success of the Far-right, and their careers.
This conference seeks to debate how the Far-right women weaponized seemingly apolitical “women’s” concerns and engaged in protecting traditional family values to effectively promote the ideology of the Far-right, its politics, including white supremacy, racism or genocidal practices. We wish to bring together researchers to present the newest research and to discuss the integral roles women have played in promoting radical Far-right movements in the past and today.
The presentations could include the following areas of interest:
– Racists, Opportunists, Adventurers, Socialites, Wives: Women in the Far-Right during the 1920s-1940s – Women as Guardians of the old Far-right in the homeland underground and in exile during the Cold War – Revival of the Far-right after the collapse of the Soviet Union – Tradwives, Youtubers, Activists, Politicians: The Far-right in the Social Media Era – Contrasts and Synergies of Women’s roles in the Far-right ideology and practice – Continuities and Ruptures of women’s participation in the Far-right – Feminists vs. Far-right Women Leaders – International Networks of the Far-right Women
Program
September 24, 2024 10:00-10:15 – Welcome 10:15-11:15 – Keynote by Eviane Leidig (Affiliate, Center for Research on Extremism, University of Oslo, Norway): Pouring old wine into new bottles: Female activism in the contemporary far right 11:30-13:00 – Session 1: At the Birth of Fascism Anca Diana Axinia (New Europe College, Bucharest, Romania): Wives, Intellectuals, Aristocrats: Women’s Membership Patterns in the Romanian Legionary MovementJakub Drábik (Anglo-American University, Prague, Czech Republic): Unveiling the Forgotten: Women in the Czechoslovak National Fascist Community (1927-1932)Ljubinka Škodrić (Institute for Contemporary History, Belgrade, Serbia): Between Nazi Service and Conservatism. A Polemic on the Role of Women in Occupied Serbia in 1941 13:00-13:15 – Greetings by Peter Haslinger, Director of the Herder Institute 14:30-16:00 – Around the Herder Institute
16:30-18:00 – Session 2: Networks and Connections Philippe Henri Blasen (University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg): Elena Bacaloglu – a Connector between Italian and Romanian FascismsLauren Ashley Bradford (Clark University, Worcester, USA and the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, USA): Women in the Crowd: A Transatlantic Study of Women’s Participation in Racial Terror in Nazi Germany and Jim Crow AmericaElisabetta Cavallin (Scuola Normale Superiore and University of Pisa, Italy): Piera Gatteschi Fondelli, Cesaria Pancheri and Carla Costa: Self-portrait of three fascist women
September 25, 2024 10:00-11:30 – Session 3: Antifeminist Mobilisation Anne-Sophie Crosetti (Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Institut de Sociologie, Belgium): Collages for Life « Pro Life Feminism », public disorder and gender orderShaban Darakchi (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria and the University of Antwerp, Belgium): “She is the female Victor Orban”: Female leadership in the anti-gender campaigns in BulgariaBesarta Velija (Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany): Antigenderist narratives of muslim activists on social media in Germany
12:00-13:30 – Session 4: Continuities: Form Interwar to Current Michelangelo Borri and Giovanni Brunetti (Universities of Trieste and Udine und University of Verona, Italy): “Guardians of the Faith”. The Italian Female Movement in post-war ItalyAndrej Kotliartchouk (Uppsala University, Sweden): Three lives of Nadzieja Abramava. The Leader of the Union of Belarusian Girls and her opinion writing in the Nazi-occupied Belarus and post-war GermanyGeorge Souvlis and Rosa Vasilaki (Department of History and Archaeology at the University of Ioannina and College Year in Athens, Greece): Instrumentalizing Gender: from interwar fascism to the Alt Right in Greece
Any questions of an academic nature, please address to the organizer Denisa Nešťáková denisa.nestakova@herder-institut.de