Germany - 5.4. Did the Nazis achieve a social revolution by 1939? Flashcards
Who was Joseph Goebbels and what was his role within Nazi Germany?
Minister of Propaganda - very high up in Hitler’s inner circle
What were the Nazi strategies for women?
Remove women from business to encourage them to have children but they do this from places they have control over first
What education were there for girls?
- Girls from the age of 10 joined the Jungmadel (Young Maidens).
- From 14 they entered the Bund Deutscher Madel (German Girls’ League).
- They were taught their role was as a good wife and mother and their place – - was in the home: kinder, kuche, kirche (children, cooking, church)
What Nazi strategies were there for marriage?
1934: 10 commandments for choice of spouse which encouraged people fitting the German Ideal to marry and keep race pure.
How was women’s employment affected?
Women taken out of the labour market.
1934: Women dismissed from the professions
1936: Women could not be judges or sit on jury
Women were expected to be home-makers, wives and mothers.
1933- 11.48 million women employed
1936 - 11.7 million
1939 - 12.7 million
What was the breeding programme?
- Women had biological purpose
- Medals for women who had more than 4 children
- Encouraged unmarried women to have children via Lebensborns where women who were racially desirable were able to have children away from social stigma
- Banned contraception and abortion
- Sterilised racially ‘impure’
What physical constraints did women have?
Not allowed to wear make-up, have hair dyed or have perms.
Only to wear flat shoes and no trousers allowed.
No slimming as thought unhealthy and would upset child-bearing.
No smoking is seen as ‘un-German‘.
Long hair or put in bun or plaits.
What Nazi youth movements were there for boys?
Age 6-10 = Pimpfen (cubs)
Age 10-14 = Deutsches Jungvolk (Young German Boys)
Age 14-18 = Hitler Youth
How does the Hitler Youth membership stats change from 1933 to 1934?
In 1933 Hitler Youth membership was 100,000 members.
By 1934 it had grown to 4 million members.
When did it become compulsory to join the Hitler Youth for 14 -18 year old boys?
1936
What were girls and boys prepared for in the youth movements?
Girls - motherhood
Boys - military
What were the Hitler Youth Law’s (1,2,3)?
- First Hitler Youth Law (December 1, 1936) - To make membership in the Hitler Youth mandatory for all eligible German youths.
- Second Hitler Youth Law (March 25, 1939) - The Law explicitly states that German children must join the Hitler Youth at age 10 and serve through age 18 years. Penalties are provided for guardians who do not comply, including confinement. The Law also gives officials the authority to require participation.
- Third Hitler Youth Law (1941) - Apparently designed to limit exemptions granted and to make the compliance for evasion more severe.
Why were young people won over by the varying youth movements?
- Attractive prospect - sports, games, singing and camping, uniform, oath, badge and a salute
- It was away from school and away from home
- Germany’s hope and future
- Comradeship, enthusiasm, honour
- Allowed children to escape from a childish narrow life and attach themselves to something great and fundamental
- New and exciting
- Became most important influence in their life
How was education in the Third Reich changed?
- curriculum Nazified
- history focused on German military might and how Jews were to blame
- biology focused on racial purity
- taught how to build bridges and aircrafts
- taught impact of poisonous gases
- Girls were taught domestic skills and eugenics – where they were educated on how to pick a husband.
- Fitness was promoted over intellectualism – the Nazi regime sought to raise future soldiers of Germany.
Where would exceptional boys go?
Adolf Hitler Schools - where they took part in tough physical training and achieved positions in the Wehrmacht, SS or went to University.
The very best pupils went to “Order Castles” where they played war games with live ammunition. Some pupils died; those who survived often became high ranking members of the Wehrmacht and SS.