ABSTRACT
In a book about evil, a chapter on National Socialism is almost expected. After all, the regime represents the ultimate modern example of evil incarnate, providing a model for the quintessential “Evil Empire.” It has become the litmus test against which other heinous acts are measured, and Nazi references are employed as shorthand for describing the extremely bad.1 However, this truism falters when gender is added as a qualifier and the focus narrows to evil women in the Third Reich. For most people, Nazism occupies a very specific gendered definition of evil, coded almost exclusively as male. Its public face is patriarchal and hyper-masculine, full of black and brown-shirted paramilitary troops goose-stepping in front of fanatical orators perched high on imposing, swastika-bedecked platforms. Presumed, but less frequently presented, is the corollary of the private, domestic sphere, where young, blond-haired mothers raise multiple, appropriately Aryan children in a pastoral setting.2
