Florian Wenninger „Die Zilli schießt!“ Frauen in den Februarkämpfen 1934* Abstract: „Zilli is shooting!“ Women during the Austrian Civil War of Febru- ary 1934. After the Austrian Civil War of February 1934, historical accounts produced by the victors and the defeated agreed relatively quickly at least on one point: that the fighting had been a purely male affair, with women ei ther absent altogether from the conflict or reduced to the role of passive victims. This assumption has been also widely shared by academics. Against this background, the article aims to reconstruct the „female“ February 1934. It explores a broad variety of actions undertaken by women including lo gistics, communication, reconnaissance and even military combat. Additio nally, it highlights how women were of tremendous importance psycholo gically. The obvious relevance of women in any military confrontation with state forces poses the question why most of the activities of women during the February fighting were spontaneous and unplanned. Here, the article ar gues that mil itary strategists’ decision not to incorporate women into milita ry planning was the result not only of patriarchical preconceptions but also of a strategic judgement. After the clashes of July 1927, the leaders of the So cial Demo cratic Schutzbund forces realigned the organization towards ex panding the number of its followers and providing a sphere of activity for radi cal elements: its potential role as an actual militia, meanwhile, was quiet ly discounted. Key words: Austria, interwar period, civil war, February 1934, military histo ry, gender history, women, violence, Schutzbund Florian Wenninger, Universität Wien, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Spitalgasse 2–4/Hof 1/1.13, A1090 Wien;
[email protected] ÖZG 27 | 2016 | 3 117 Ein Exponat als Symptom In der Dauerausstellung des Wiener Heeresgeschichtlichen Museums (HGM) findet sich, durchaus prominent platziert, ein schlichtes khakifarbenes Uniformoberteil.