What was life like in the Nazi state? Flashcards
How was control maintained in Germany?
Fear
Propaganda
The banning of ideas
A strong Police State
What did the Nazis believe about women?
They believed women were equal but played a different role so:
Women were expected to value the family before all else
Women were expected not to work
Women should have lots of children
The 3 Ks - Kinder, Kuche, Kirche
Be traditional and conservative in their appearance
What were specific laws passed to enforce Nazi ideals about women?
1933: Law for Encouragement of Marriage, women were given up to 1000 marks for getting married and a quarter of the loan was wiped out for each child they had
1938: Change in divorce law made it easier for men to divorce women who couldn’t have children
The mother’s cross: An award given to mothers for the number of children - Bronze (4 or 5), Silver (6 or 7), Gold (8)
The Lebensborn programme: encouraged women to have children with SS guards
How did these laws affect women?
During 1933-36 the number of married emplyed women fell
The number of marriages increased
The birht rate increased though few women had more than 2 children
The German women’s enterprise had 6 million members
How were women discouraged from having careers?
1933: Women were banned from professiona jobs like teachers, doctors and civil servants
1934: 360,000 women had given up on work
1936: No woman could become a judge, lawyer or even do jury service
1937: Grammar schools for women were banned, and the number of women in higher education by 1939 was 6,000 (17,000 in 1932)
What was the German women’s enterprise?
It was formed when Gertrud Scholtz-Klink merged all women’s organisations into one
She wanted to make women into servants of the state
The Nazi message for women was easily spread though it
It clearly worked, as it had 6 million members
