Women from all walks of life now make up a third of the membership of some far right groups in Germany as neo-Nazi organisations attempt to cement their power base, shed their male-dominated image, boost their social acceptance and move out of the extremes into the mainstream.

Statistics from a number of states indicate an explosion in female membership across the country as well as an increase in women-only groups, or Kameradschaften, such as the Free Girls' Union and Union of Homeland Loyalists, which aim to promote "pure Germany" and campaign against multiculturalism.

The Thuringian branch of the BVD, Germany's security service, which monitors far right groups, said that in less than a year the proportion of women in far-right groups in the eastern state had risen from 20% to 30%. Lower Saxony and Hessen reported figures of 20% - with 30% in Kameradschaften - and in Bavaria numbers have increased by two-thirds to 16% in just two years.

"It appears that women are increasingly finding emancipation in the scene and taking advantage of this," said Rüdiger Hesse, spokesman for the BVD branch in Lower Saxony. "They are lured by the modern packaging of hatred towards foreigners."

Now, in an attempt to attract young modern women, the Young National Democrats (JN), the youth wing of the German nationalist party (NPD) which is represented in parliament, has sought to turn the traditional approach on its head, recently coining the phrase: "Nationalism is also a girl's concern." It reports a "significant increase" in interest as a result.

Rainer Fromm, one of the producers of the documentary, said the women in the far right were not all from underprivileged backgrounds. "They are lawyers, nurses, librarians and pianists, from working class and middle class backgrounds, broken and stable homes."

The largest growth in interest was among 15- to 25-year-olds, he added.