New Study Destroys the Myth of the "Rubble Women"

The "rubble women" who selflessly cleared debris in Vienna after World War II are a myth. As historians from the Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) demonstrate using previously little-noticed sources, it was primarily former NSDAP members who were obligated to do the cleanup work. According to the study published in the journal "Austrian History Yearbook," the mythologizing narrative of the "rubble women" only emerged from the 1990s onwards.

The topic of "rubble women" remains vague due to lack of sources

The image of the selfless efforts of women who cleared the traces of World War II in Vienna in the first years after its end, thus paving the way for reconstruction, is firmly anchored in many minds but has long been critically questioned by experts. The debate was reignited in 2018 when then Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache (FPÖ) unveiled a "rubble women" monument on the Mölker-Bastei in Vienna's Inner City, created on the initiative of the FPÖ-affiliated Cajetan-Felder-Institute.

"The topic of rubble women in Austria is quite vague because there are very few sources," explained Martin Tschiggerl from the Institute of Cultural Sciences of the ÖAW to the APA. Together with his colleagues Lea von der Hude and Patricia Seifner, he analyzed previously scarcely evaluated files from the Vienna City and State Archive to clear the fog surrounding the alleged voluntary women's work.

Historians examined applications from obligated ex-Nazis

The historians examined around 7,000 applications for compensation from forcibly obligated National Socialists. The background of these applications was a law passed by the provisional Austrian government in August 1945, which obligated former NSDAP members to atonement measures in reconstruction. "In the immediate post-war period, there was not only a shortage of potential workers but also a lack of willingness among the population to participate in the cleanup work in the destroyed city at all," said Tschiggerl. The legal obligation to work was intended to remedy this.

After a series of compensation claims were filed by such obligated workers, the Supreme Court decided in 1951 that they were entitled to payment for the hours worked: 67 groschen per hour for women and 84 groschen for men.

"In these compensation applications, there are sometimes very extensive letters with descriptions from the applicants about when, where, and what they worked on," said the historian. "As a former National Socialist ... I have suffered the most," the researchers quote an example from the applications in the title of their work.

Compensation for Millions of Work Hours

Based on this very extensive collection, Tschiggerl estimates that millions of work hours were compensated. How many former NSDAP members were actually deployed for work is hard to say, but the applications likely represent just the tip of the iceberg: "We assume that at most ten to 20 percent of the atonement workers applied for compensation. In light of this chain of evidence, there is not much left for voluntary work by selfless women."

Of the approximately 7,000 documented applications, about 55 percent came from men and 45 percent from women. "This is an imbalance, considering that in 1945/46 there were significantly more women in Vienna than men, many of whom were still in captivity or on their way back from the front," said Tschiggerl. However, it is unclear who applied for compensation - was it more men because they had more courage, or more women who perhaps needed the money more urgently?

Myth of the "Rubble Women" Emerged Only from the 1990s

The myth of the "rubble women," which has little to do with historical reality, only emerged later in Austria. At the end of the 1980s, a major debate in West Germany about the disadvantage of women in pension law spilled over to Austria. "From the 1990s onwards, with the erosion of the thesis of Austria as a victim, the rubble women narrative emerged as a new victim story: If not all Austrians were victims, then at least all women should have been," said Tschiggerl about the "mystifying narrative, especially taken up by politically right and conservative sides."

In addition to the publication in the "Austrian History Yearbook" (Cambridge University Press), a monograph by Tschiggerl on the topic will be published by Böhlau in the summer. Its title: "Ruins of Memory. The Search for the Austrian Rubble Woman"

(APA/Red)

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