Kaufhold, Charlie. In guter Gesellschaft?

Kaufhold analyses newspaper articles (Süddeutsche Zeitung, BILD, taz and Spiegel online) about Beate Zschäpe from November 2011 after the uncovering of the right wing terrorist group ‘National Socialist Underground’ and from May 2013, the beginning of the trial. She finds that the gendered descriptions are either demonizing or trivializing when Zschäpe is e.g. pictured as the devil that has dressed up for trial or as an innocent cat loving girl with pink slippers. These images have the effect of externalising responsibility and guilt for the German society. Furthermore they follow in the tradition of the stereotypical reporting about female Nazi perpetrators after the Second World War.

Kaufhold, Charlie. In guter Gesellschaft? Geschlecht, Schuld und Abwehr in der Berichterstattung über Beate Zschäpe. Münster: edition assemblage, 2015.