2020: Stigma "asocial". The Persecution of Women in the "Ostmark" - Structures and Official Routines

The project "Stigma 'asocial'" was initiated as a follow-up project to the study "'Asocial' in National Socialism and the Perpetuation in Postwar Austria. Female Prisoners in Ravensbrück Concentration Camp and Uckermark Concentration Camp" (completed in 2018).

The report starts with an explanation of the basics of the stigmatization as 'asocial': how did it come about, what were the ideological preconditions and intentions, what were the consequential effects of such stigmatization for those affected. One section of this introductory chapter deals with the relationship between 'asocial' and 'criminal', which were closely related, since National Socialism regarded 'criminality' as a heightened form of the very broadly defined 'asociality'. In this context, the question as to how far the attributions were gender-specific is addressed, i.e. whether, for example, men were more frequently stigmatized as 'criminal', whereas women were more often branded as 'asocial'. Another chapter is devoted to the most important authorities and their roles as stigmatising and persecuting bodies, with special focus on the criminal police as well as welfare institutions. The chapter "Contaminated Places" analyses the various institutions to which Austrian women stigmatized as 'asocial' were forcibly removed: In addition to the three labour institutions Am Steinhof, Klosterneuburg, and Znaim, which were already discussed in detail in the first study, we address here in particular the labour institution Bischofsried. Furthermore, departments in psychiatric hospitals or reformatories, as well as planned but unrealized places are considered. The chapter "Victims of a Population-Political Mania - Those Persecuted as 'Asocial'," focuses on quantitative analyses: for example, on the extent of the admissions from the four analysed Counties Vienna, Lower Danube, Upper Danube and Styria, as well as on the socio-demographic characteristics of the women (and also men) affected.

Some results of the study:

The numerous analysed committal notices to labour institutions and many other documents clearly prove the fact that the stigmatization as 'asocial' of women - in contrast to men - was primarily based on their imputed sexuality. In other words, if their sexual behaviour was characterised by the authorities as "unrestrained libidinousness", "sexual" or "moral neglect", "dissolute" or "unstable lifestyle", "tendency to male acquaintances", etc. Very often they were accused of clandestine prostitution, and sex workers were generally considered 'asocial'.

In addition to sexual behaviour, it was the alleged lack of work ethic that led to the categorisation as 'asocial'. Women were convicted on charges such as "breach of employment contract", "unauthorized absence from the workplace", or "work fraud", according to the diction in official documents. In many cases, these two strands of argumentation overlapped in the justifications for the alleged 'asociality,' so that the attribution of 'neglect' encompassed both moral and work-moral components.

Another characteristic of the persecution of those stigmatized as 'asocial' is the lack of a generally valid definition of 'asociality'. Therefore, the “Directive for the Implementation of the Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseases” (1940) served as a basis for classification; this outlined in four roughly drawn points which behaviours would indicate alleged 'asociality'. The so-called 'asocial' persecution can thus be seen as part of the National Socialists' eugenic population policy. The broad spectrum of the directive allowed for a correspondingly comprehensive scope of persecution.

The implementation of the policy against people stigmatized as asocial was carried out by numerous administrative offices and authorities: first and foremost the welfare offices, together with the youth welfare offices and the health authorities. Also involved were the employment offices, health insurance companies, the gendarmerie and the police. The Rassenpolitische Amt (Office for Racial Policy) - a sub-organization of the NSDAP - provided the guidelines for the networked approach. The so-called Asozialenkommissionen (asocial commissions) were, so to speak, a special Austrian feature. They were intended to streamline official procedures. Such 'asocial commissions' existed in the counties of Vienna, Lower Danube, Styria and Salzburg. The driving force behind them was the Office of Racial Policy, the authorities worked in the service of the party. According to internal statistics for the period of January 1941 to late July 1944, the Vienna Asocial Commission recommended that 651 women be sent to labour institutions, drinking sanatoriums or concentration camps. In the county of Vienna, the women were sent to the Klosterneuburg and Am Steinhof labour institutions. Women from other districts were mainly sent to the labour institutions in Bischofsried and Znojmo. There, not only forced labour, drill and harassment awaited them, but in some cases also forced sterilization.

The 'asocial' persecution particularly affected young people. The Reich Central Office for Combating Juvenile Delinquency, which was established at the Reich Criminal Police Office on July 1, 1939, played an important role. It organized criminal police surveillance of children and adolescents who appeared to have a so-called "hereditary criminal predisposition."

A decisive role in someone’s classification as 'asocial' and the measures to be taken was played by the welfare workers. During the Nazi era, they were an integral part of the system of so-called 'negative selection', i.e. social exclusion. Special schools and reformatories became places of 'segregation' and 'detention' for those who deviated from the prevailing norm. This 'selection' also took place in youth welfare institutions or so-called observation centres, and could result in incarceration in a youth concentration camp.

Reasons for incarceration included accusations of "rebelliousness", "criminality", "refusal to work", "work fraud", "sabotage", "moral or sexual neglect", or so-called "racial defilement", but also membership in youth subcultures (such as the Swing Youth or Schlurfs, as they were called in Vienna).

It is clear from the persecution of so-called 'asocials' that this was a policy against the poor, which was strongly influenced by sexism, racism and classism.

The results of the study were published under the title „Stigma ‚asozial‘ – Geschlechtsspezifische Zuschreibungen, behördliche Routinen und Orte der Verfolgung im Nationalsozialismus“ in the fall of 2020 by Mandelbaum Verlag.