Being the best versed among her female colleagues in the art of unarmed combat, policewoman Nadine Koschnick is frequently despatched to Berlin’s ‘problem’ suburb of Wedding when hell breaks loose. The proportion of females in the (mainly juvenile) delinquent population there is described as ‘astoundingly high’ and violent offenses by no means the prerogative of the boys.

“Eighteen, brutal, female. Young girls rip out each other’s hair and ear-rings, punch each other in the face, and carry on kicking when the victim lies beaten on the ground. Violence long ago ceased to be the prerogative of the boys. The police now warn against underestimating the danger an ‘angelic countenance’ may conceal” begins an article on the phenomenon by Miriam Schröder in Spiegel Online.

They have their own codes, in which ‘honour’ is all-important. “Treat me with respect, I’ll treat you with respect,” says ‘Queen Saliha’ (one of Koschnick’s usual suspects). “Treat me without it, and I’ll slaughter you like a steer.”

Queen Saliha came to the attention of the police at the age of 15, after beating up another girl in the schoolyard. “She insulted me,” explained Saliha. “Something in me just snapped.”

The girl’s arm also snapped as the fight proceeded. In the ground ‘n’ pound that followed, she suffered a concussion and worse, but Queen Saliha went on punching, blind with rage. “Couldn’t you hear her screaming and begging for mercy?” asked the magistrate. Saliha couldn’t remember and didn’t care. “The main thing is she suffered.” When the fight was over, the suffering wasn’t: as she stood up, finally sated, Saliha’s homegirls gathered round the victim, jostling for the best angles from which to kick her as she lay on the ground.

Only 15, she was given a fine of 120 euros (then $145) and ordered to apologize to her victim. The fine she paid off, working hard to earn the money. But apologize? Never! She hasn’t to this day. “It was her own fault” is all she will say.

Koschnick is part of an elite ‘action squad’ specializing in youth violence.  “The girls and the boys are as bad as each other,” she says “not just in their propensity to fight but in their vanity and silly airs.” Decked out in her white and pink jumpsuit, with her hair in a pony tail, Queen Saliha, now 18, looks as wholesome as a catalogue model. Only the hand signs (Watts comes to Wedding) betray the reality. “Wedding belles rule” say the signs.

Koschnick’s experience as an amateur (kick-)boxer has stood her in good stead in such situations, giving her a calmness and a quiet authority she might otherwise lack. But whilst breaking up catfights, and arresting female muggers, may not be entirely without excitement, Nadine will be looking for something more challenging when she steps into the ring in Bautzen on the 4^th October. There the 33-year-old will fight (under Marquess of Queensberry rules) for the first time as a professional – against Marie Riederer of Weißwasser, over four rounds.

Promoter Peter Pelk, it has to be said, is doing her no favours: Voted Sportswoman of the Year in the Neiße region in March (beating triathlete Christina Amboß  and ice-hockey goalkeeper Ivone Schröder respectively into second and third place), Riederer turned professional last year at the age of eighteen, pouring down upon Jeniffer Prautsch, also making her debut, such a hailstorm of punches in the first thirty seconds of their encounter that Prautsch’s corner (for want of an umbrella) threw in the towel.

Already at seventeen, Riederer was fighting under professional rules in unregistered bouts – on one occasion, on a bill interlarded with what were called ‘show elements’ like a wrestling match between the “Bavarian Hulk” and “Germany’s leading Joe Cocker impersonator” (getting by on this occasion without help from his friends). A bit of a wild child, too, I fancy, this Marie Riederer, and speculation is rife on the bulletin boards as to whether Koschnick will bring her to book.

Between ‘Sweet Marie’, though, and ‘Queen Saliha’ there’s one difference:  if she wins, and strikes with lighting this time instead of hail, Riederer’s friends (if it’s any consolation) won’t gather like vultures and squabble over the remains…

Sources: Fight Night Boxen, „Bist du scheiße, schachte ich dich“, Sächsische Zeitung, Lausitzer Rundschau, PowerF Boxing