‘Asocials’ were targeted for persecution by the Nazis from 1933 to 1945, but were not recognised as a persecuted group by the German Bundestag, the national parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany, until 2020, 80 years after liberation. During the motion of recognising ‘asocials’ as victims of Nazi persecution, Dr Eva Hogl from the SPD stated approval would open up research on this ‘forgotten victim group’ [1]  . 

Research into the treatment of ‘asocials’ in concentration camps and their fate is limited and reflective of the problematic nature of the definition of the term. ‘Asocials’ in Nazi Germany consisted of groups such as prostitutes, the homeless, and people who were considered workshy and not contributing to German society. Further adding to the problematic nature of the ‘crime’ of being ‘asocial’ for research is the discussion of gender. Undesirable men and women were incarcerated for the same ‘crimes’ and both suffered under the Nazis, but the criminal category of ‘asocial’ was shaped by gender. ‘Asocial’ elements, male or female, included but were not restricted to begging, being homeless, unemployed, in receipt of welfare benefits or prostitution. However, under the Nazis only women were incarcerated for prostitution or sexual deviancy.

The Nazis were attempting to build an orderly state and as carriers of future generations the female body, if uncontrolled, represented a threat. Attributing sexual acts to a ‘criminal’ category, the Nazis sought to control the female body as it would become the property of the state. However, in the Nazis orderly society there was no clear social norm for women and essentially any woman could have been categorised as an ‘asocial’.

Gender history in the Holocaust is not a new area of study and as Marion Kaplan states has ‘come a long way since the topic of women entered some of the literature’. However Kaplan posed the question ‘did gender matter in the Holocaust?’ arguing that though research has increased, scholars need to go beyond a comparison or existing as an addition, such as ‘women and’. [2]  Gender and the Holocaust has been discussed by a number of scholars since the 1980s, and Denisa Nešťáková, Katja Grosse-Sommer, Borbála Klacsmann and Jakub Drábik’s publication If this is a Woman, a collection of papers focusing on the experiences of Jewish women under the Nazis continues to bridge the gap in female experiences as an ‘addition’ in the narrative. [3] 

Though a valuable contribution to gendered experiences there were many non-Jewish women persecuted by the Nazis who have received limited attention in research. The inclusion in research of non-Jewish women as undesirable members of society would illuminate the complexity of life for all women before, during and after their incarceration in concentration camps. Undesirable women were categorised by the Nazis into ‘criminal’ groups such as political, Jehovah’s Witnesses and ‘Gypsies’, and based on their ‘criminal’ category could receive different treatment and roles in camps. Gender, when compared with criminal categories, did matter in the Holocaust and was visible in the crime of being ‘asocial’, which this paper will address by exploring reasons why female ‘asocials’ represented a threat to the Third Reich. The threat female ‘asocials’ represented was also present in camp society resulting in their negative portrayal in survivor testimony. Therefore, I will also address the reputation of female ‘asocials’ in camps and why there is an overwhelming perception that they were untrustworthy, deceitful and collaborators.