Women in Nazi and FRG Flashcards
What was the Nazis’ attitude towards women?
Stressed the virtues of family, saying that women were equal to men but different physically, so the family was their job. ‘Kinder, Küche, Kirche.’
What was the NSF or NS-Frauenschaft?
The National Socialist Womanhood, a Nazi organisation for women created after they were removed from the Reichstag.
What was the Deutsches Frauenwork?
The German Woman’s Enterprise, who organised activities for non-party members.
What were eugenics?
Encouraging ‘pure’ German couples to breed. They passed laws to stop the ‘wrong’ kind of breeding.
What was the Mother’s Cross?
A scheme to encourage ‘pure’ couples to breed. Families were given 100 marks per child, and the tenth would have Hitler as their godfather.
What was the Lebensborn programme?
Started in 1936 and run by a special branch of the SS, selected men (usually SS members) were encouraged to mate with as many different ‘racially pure’ young women as possible - basically rape, with many women being forced into the programme.
Expectations of mothers in Nazi Germany?
She was expected to eat well, take regular exercise and not smoke, whilst remaining a good housewife and loyal to her husband.
What were the 3 main reasons there was a smaller incease of women entering the workforce during WW2 than Britain or WW1?
- the Nazi propaganda machine had done its work well. Many women were reluctant to work and many organisations were reluctant to have them.
- the government did not use women in all kinds of work, preferring to have them replace male teachers or work on the land rather than in mines or heavy industry
- Germany used the use of ‘foreign labour’ from the lands they had conquered, so their need to mobalise women in the workforce was nowhere near as great
What was the role of women at the start of the FRG
To work, helping to rebuild the economy as so many able-bodied men had died. They worked as anything from cleaners to builders to office workers.
Were women involved in politics in early FRG?
Some - mostly ones who had been politically active before 1933. However, ingrained Nazi propaganda that politics was not for women hampered them at this point
What was the ideal woman for many people and political groups at the start of the FRG?
Remained being a wife and mother
What was the Ministry of Family Affairs?
Provided wives and mothers with financial benefits
What was Adenauer’s view on women?
He believed it was important to make more jobs available to women and making working conditions more equal.
What party did not support women getting jobs and equal pay/working conditions?
CDU
What party supported women getting jobs and equal pay/working conditions?
SPD
What did Article 3 of the Basic Law state?
‘Equality under the law for all’
When did women get legal freedom?
1958
When were the Marriage and Family Laws revised to make women equal in marriage?
1977
In a 1982 survey, what percent of men and women thought men should work and women should care for the home?
70%
What did Paragraph 218 of the German Penal Code state?
That it is a crime for women to seek abortion unless there was a strong medical reason to do so.
