Two young women who lost their jobs because of their association with Germany’s far-right scene have formed a group to help other persecuted women. It is part of a growing trend of women becoming more prominent on the extreme-right scene
Iris Niemeyer feels angry, betrayed and persecuted. In her mid-30s, educated and articulate, Niemeyer is furious about having lost her job as a social worker because of her political beliefs. She is so appalled that she has set up a group to defend women in similar situations. Women like her — women from Germany’s far-right scene.
Together with Sigrid Schüssler, an actress who also faced employment difficulties due to her political affiliation, Niemeyer has set up the women’s self-help group Jeanne D. The group’s declared purpose is to help women who have been politically persecuted. “The group is open to all women who have a nationalist, patriotic world view,” Niemeyer told SPIEGEL ONLINE. “Those very women who are currently facing fierce persecution.”
In Niemeyer’s case this “persecution” arose when she lost her job at a youth center in the village of Mesum in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia last year. According to Matthias Fischer, one of her former colleagues, the center received an e-mail on Oct. 26, 2007 telling them that they had a member of the far-right on the staff. The message included photos of Niemeyer at a rally for the right-extremist National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) and at an information stand for its affiliated women’s organization Ring Nationaler Frauen (Ring of Nationalist Women or RNF).