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German Police via Reuters
Beate Zschaepe, 38, is accused of complicity in the murder of eight ethnic Turks, a Greek and a policewoman, two bombings and 15 bank robberies. She has been described as "Germany's most dangerous neo-Nazi."
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MAINZ, Germany -- Dubbed the "Nazi Bride," Beate Zschaepe has become the face of right-wing militancy in Germany.
The 38-year-old woman is allegedly the sole surviving member of the National Socialist Underground, a neo-Nazi terror cell accused of a seven-year racist killing spree.
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German Police via Reuters
National Socialist Underground member Uwe Boehnhardt was found dead after a bungled armed robbery in November 2011.
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On Monday, Zschaepe will go on trial accused of complicity in the murder of eight ethnic Turks, a Greek and a policewoman, two bombings and 15 bank robberies.
But she is alleged to be far more than just the tagalong lover of the far-right gang's leader.
German federal prosecutor Wolfgang Range alleges that Zschaepe gave the terror cell "the appearance of legality and normalcy towards the outside."
Speaking to Der Spiegel magazine, Range added: "I am convinced that she wasn't just an accessory or merely a companion, but was in fact acting on the same level as the others."
Zschaepe and two alleged accomplices, who took their own lives, have been described by Range as a "unified killing commando" responsible for a series of execution-style murders.
Zschaepe's case will spotlight the increasingly prominent role that women are playing in the neo-Nazi scene. In particular, they have been gaining influence in German far-right politics.
Statistics suggest nearly 20 percent of executives in Germany's extremist NPD party are women, which is a higher percentage than in many smaller mainstream parties.
"Women are increasingly taking center stage in the far-right scene," said Michaela Koettig, a professor for social work at the University of Applied Sciences in Frankfurt. "They are filling important positions after being fully socialized by the scene."
Up to 40 far-right women's organizations alone have been established since 2000, according to Koettig.
"Like their male comrades, women from the extreme right are also violent and fully politically motivated in their actions," said Koettig, who has been conducting research on far-right extremism for the past 20 years.
Overall, the German government's domestic intelligence agency estimates that there are more than 22,000 active members in the country's right-wing scene, including 9,800 violent extremists. Statistics on the exact number of female supporters do not exist.
Zschaepe, who has been branded "Germany's most dangerous neo-Nazi," has so far kept silent. Prosecutors hope that she will testify during her trial, which could run for more than a year in Munich.
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