Women in Nazi Germany

Independent Study Unit:

Women in Nazi Germany

What the man gives in courage on the battlefield, the woman gives in eternal self sacrifice, in eternal pain and suffering. Every child that a woman brings into the world is a battle, a battle waged for the existence of her people.

-Adolph Hitler (Bendersky, 1986, p. 165)

This message to the women of Germany by the FÐ"јhrer himself salutes their maternal sacrifices and clarifies one of the many roles that were expected of the women during the Nazi regime. Hitler had a loyal female following, in fact it is because of a woman named Helen Bechstein wife of Bechstein the piano maker, that Hitler was first introduced into exclusive Berlin society (Sigmund, 2000, p. 8). His ability to manipulate anyone who crossed his path and use them to further himself was another one of his traits. This trademark tool was used mainly in molding the German conscience, convincing them of their new purpose and the ideals of the National Socialists (NS). As soon as the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) gained momentum in the polls and the peoples' hearts, the need to thwart the overtly liberal and feminist philosophies of the Weimar era became a priority on the NSDAP agenda. Beginning with the anti-feminism movements, restricting employment and educational opportunities, banning women from politics and by monitoring them through youth and women's groups, Hitler controlled women, and ultimately the German culture.

After the Great War, 1918-1932, Germany was a democracy recognized as the Weimar Republic, whose democratic ambitions supported the "modern woman", creating work and educational opportunities as well as ensuring universal female suffrage (Seligmann, 2003, p. 117). Once the NSDAP was elected in 1933 the sexual liberation, emancipation of women, cabarets, bustling city centres and the hedonistic lifestyle was over. Henceforth women needed to reflect the conservative views of the Nazi party. The supposedly gentler sex were "Ð'...week, emotional creatures whose intellectual inferiority required male supervision and guidance," (Bendersky, 1986, p 163). This in turn created a culture of subservient women who would do as they were told. Nevertheless, the new concepts of the "modern woman" and emancipation that had sprung from the First World War were now embedded into German culture. Not even the melodious rhetoric of the smooth talking FÐ"јhrer could change that mentality over night. Nazi slogans such as "Men and women are two separate beingsÐ'...each with just as separate functions, " and "The world of a woman is small compared to that of a man," caused outrage in many parts of Germany (Sigmund, 2000, p.18). However when the Nazi's held parliament in 1933 swift action in the form of anti-emancipation campaigns began and slowly Germany started adopting an old attitude towards women. The plans of the NS were to raise the population for the war efforts and the eventual settlement in the East. Since the birth rate had fallen from two million from the time of Hitler's inception to less than one million (Radway, 2002, p.48). Hitler began pushing to reduce the role of women, from individuals who were employed and studied in all fields same as men, to purely biological machines concerned only with their familial functions. The democratic ambitions of Weimar Germany that once assured universal suffrage and equality were now nowhere to be found, and according to Hitler and Nazi propaganda, the "modern woman" was a result of Jewish intellectuals that coined the term "emancipation of women" (Seligmann, 2003, p. 45). So now the only accepted idea of women revolved around "Children, Church and kitchen". (Grunberger, 1971, p.252). To start, loans, child subsidies and income tax cuts were established as incentives for the Germans to procreate. The Law for the Encouragement of Marriage, is one example. It gave loans of up to 1000 marks (equivalent to nine months salary), which would be paid back 1% per month with reductions of 25% off of the loan, per child (Seligmann, 2003, p. 444). Women in Germany now had new goals: to be future mothers and housewives, which in their own way was serving their beloved country. This almost free financial aid was possible at the expense of the tax dollars of men and one million single women as well as 5.4 million childless couples (Seligmann, 2003, p. 445) . The long-term goal was to expand Germany's Master Race to 25 million in the not too distant future (Bendersky, 1986, p.163). Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels painted family life as domestic bliss and propaganda focused so much on the topic that it made a person feel guilty if they had not yet considered children and marriage. It is interesting to note that many of the elite members of the Nazi party had wives and mistresses who were exact opposites of the Nordic women portrayed in Nazi propaganda. This did not influence the public's concept of family life and the ideal woman since little was known to Germany as to whether the men of the Third Reich carried on family lives as preached in their Nazi doctrine. The women behind the men were veiled in mystery and so could behave in the manner for which they were used; as decorations for government functions and Chancellery balls. The only exceptions included Dr. Joesph Goebbel and appropriately the Nazi propagandist, who met the criteria, having had six children with his wife Magda. For this she was awarded the first Mother's Cross award, a prestigious medal created by Hitler, for having done her civic duty by having at least four children; in total three million women were awarded the cross by 1939 (Radway, 2002, p. 455). To keep the Aryan race pure, men and women with hereditary diseases were sterilized without question, along with interracial children (as soon as they reached the appropriate age), and by 1945 doctors had sterilized 300 000 men and women (Radway, 2002, p.48). To give the good German sperm a fighting chance, birth control was condemned, family planning centres shut down and abortions made illegal. By the end Hitler only managed to increase the population by one million. The Nazi slogan, stating that women were "Different, not inferior." (Rodway, 2002, p.49) was a non-offensive way to separate the sexes. These methods that Hitler had used to simplify women to mere reproductive tools showed the scope of his power to control Germany by not allowing women to participate fully in German life.

Hitler's control included the narrowing participation of women in the workforce and education, where their previous involvement in these two areas