12 - Women and youth Flashcards
Explain why the Nazis made changes to the lives of young people from 1933 to 1939 (3 points)
1 - to promote gender roles and Nazi ideology
2 - control the population
3 - to secure the future of Germany
Explain why the Nazis made changes to the lives of young people from 1933 to 1939 - promote gender roles and Nazi ideology
- prepare boys for the military: Hitler Youth members learned things like map-reading and signalling. By 1938, 1.2 million boys were being trained in small arms shooting
- prepare girls for motherhood: League of German Maidens trained girls to cook, iron, and look after children
- promote racial ideas: ‘Race Studies’ were a compulsory part of the school curriculum. Children were taught to identify and classify racial groups and girls were taught that they shouldn’t marry ‘inferior’ races
Explain why the Nazis made changes to the lives of young people from 1933 to 1939 - control the population
- banning of youth groups, 1933: if wanted to use sports facilities, had to do so as member of Hitler Youth/League of German Maidens. Membership of Hitler Youth compulsory in 1939 = allowed the Nazis to control young people outside of school
- oath of loyalty: HY and LGM members had to swear oath of loyalty to Hitler. Encouraged to report on any suspicious or anti-Nazi activity, even from teachers or parents
- control of teachers: teachers had to join ‘Teachers’ League’ + swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler. Courses were run to dictate the ideas that should be taught
Explain why the Nazis made changes to the lives of young people from 1933 to 1939 - to secure the future of Germany
- school political training: teachers expected to decorate classrooms with Nazi posters and flags and ensure students did the Nazi salute. Taught about ‘stab-in-the-back’ theory, and that Socialists and Communists were evil = encouraged young people to see the Nazis as the ‘saviours’ of Germany
- youth group political training: HY + LGM members had to attend residential courses to learn about Nazi ideals. Attended rallies, swore oaths of allegiance, and were encouraged to view Hitler as a father figure = would provide a constant supply of loyal Nazi Party supporters for the future
Explain why the Nazis wanted women to stay at home and focus on their family (3 points)
1 - promote Nazi ideology
2 - increase the birth rate
3 - reduce unemployment
Explain why the Nazis wanted women to stay at home and focus on their family - promote Nazi ideology
- propaganda: promoted ‘traditional values’ and emphasised the importance of the ‘traditional family’ through posters, paintings, and sculptures - with the mother at home and the father at work
- German Women’s Enterprise: led by Reich Women’s Leader, Gertrude Scholtz-Klink = combined all women’s organisations into one. Organisation eventually had 6 million members
Explain why the Nazis wanted women to stay at home and focus on their family - increased birth rate
- Law for the Encouragement of Marriage (1933) - ‘marriage loans’ of 1000 marks for women who gave up work to marry. Quarter of the loan cancelled for every child the couple had. By end of 1934, around 360,000 women had given up work to get married
- Mother’s Cross: awarded to mothers who had children, gold = 8, silver = 6, bronze = 4. Caused a large increase in births
- Lebensborn: special houses where women could go to ‘breed’ with SS men to create ‘genetically pure’ children. Between 1938 and 1941, 540 women gave birth in Lebensborn houses
- divorce laws: if a wife could not have children or had an abortion, these could be used as grounds for a divorce
Explain why the Nazis wanted women to stay at home and focus on their family - reduce unemployment
- Law for the Reduction of Unemployment (1933) - banned women from working in education, medicine, law, or local government. Instructed employers to pay women less than men, and prevented women from working passed the age of 35
- prevent women from entering the workplace: girls trained for motherhood rather than employment and in 1937, grammar schools for girls were banned. Number of female students entering higher education fell from 17,000 in 1932 to 6,000 in 1939
