Women in Nazi Germany

Question 1

What was the slogan Nazi’s adopted for women?

Answer 1

• Kinder, Küche, Kirche
• ‘Children, Kitchen, Church’
• Nazis were against church membership however as ir undermined their influence

Question 2

Were men and women equal under the Nazi’s?

Answer 2

• They were claimed to be equal but physically their jobs were different
• Men were to be the providers
• Women were to produce good Nazi’s, not for an individualistic family but for the regime

Question 3

What organisations did women have?

Answer 3

• National Socialist Womanhood (NSF)

- Wider movement of German Women’s Enterprise which organised activities for non-party members

Question 4

What was the Nazi belief on eugenics?

Answer 4

• The belief that controlling reproduction can produce a healthier population
• Encouraged the breeding of ‘pure’ Germans and not the wrong kind
• Couples were only given marriage loans if they had a license to prove they are fit and racially acceptable
• Only those considered ‘suitable’ after interview were given RM100 per child for school and transport fees

Question 5

What was the Lebensborn programme?

Answer 5

1936

• Run by a special branch of the SS
• Men, usually SS members, were encouraged to mate with ‘pure’ women from the BDM
• Programme had its own hospitals, clinics and homes for the children who ere adopted by ‘fit’ Germans who couldn’t conceive
• Once the Third Reich expanded they took ‘suitable’ children from invaded areas and re-homed them

Question 6

When was the SS marriage order set?

Answer 6

31st December 1931

• SS members can only marry Aryan women
• 1936 amendment said SS men married or not must have four children with such a woman

Question 7

When was the Law to reduce Unemployment set?

Answer 7

1st June 1933

• Includes an interest-free marriage loan to Aryan couples if woman gives up her job and can have ‘fit’ children
• Loan repayment was reduced a 1/4 for every child the women had

Question 8

When were women dismissed from the civil service?

Answer 8

30th June 1933

• All married women in the civil service with wage-earning husbands were dismissed
• Wages for other women were fixed to lower amounts

Question 9

When was the Law for the prevention of Offspring for Hereditary Diseases passed?

Answer 9

14th July 1933

• Prevent offspring with mental and physical disabilities
• Extended to women with several partners or illegitimate children and male & female alcoholics
• Secretly extended to cover racial undesirability

Question 10

What law was passed in 1935?

Answer 10

Law for the Protection of Hereditary Health of the German People is a fitness to marry certificate requires to prove neither couple is genetically or racially ‘impure’

Question 11

What law was passed in 1936?

Answer 11

Women are excluded from working in the law, except tin administrative posts

Question 12

What law was passed in 1937?

Answer 12

Due to increasing war goods production, to be ready for war, women can work and still be awarded the marriage loan

Question 13

What law was passed in 1938?

Answer 13

Marriage law extends the grounds for divorce to include infertility, having an abortion and refusing to have a baby

Question 14

What law was passed in May 1939?

Answer 14

• Mothers Cross introduced for mothers with four (bronze), six (silver) and 8 (gold) children
• It is awarded on Mothers Day, Hitlers mothers birthday in August

Question 15

What were the effects of these policies

Answer 15

• Married women lost their job

- Single women when were only allowed low level work, e.g domestic work, shop work and secretaries

Question 16

How were female doctors affected?

Answer 16

Expected to work in maternity clinics or GP’s despite their higher level of skill

Question 17

How were female teachers affected?

Answer 17

• Largest population of women

- Women who had taught secondary schools had to teach primary school kids

Question 18

What was the gap in status between women?

Answer 18

• Those who fit the Nazi ideal were given a higher level of health care and status in Nazi Germany
• Mothers of soldiers were given more support and honoured on mothers day which was a national holiday under the Nazi’s

Question 19

What were the expectations of women in Nazi Germany?

Answer 19

• Level of state policing towards women
• Expected to eat well, get enough exercise, not smoke
• To be a good and faithful housewife
• Various organisations monitored this

Question 20

How did the Second World War shift the responsibility of women?

Answer 20

• Women were urged to join the workforce despite marriage and more childcare was provided
• NSV had 31,000 kindergarten and créches by the end of 1942
• Total number of women in workforce went up by 27% between 1933 and 39
• Only 2% between 1939 and 1944
• In Britain there was a 50% increase

Question 21

Why was there a smaller increase of women entering the workforce even during the war effort?

Answer 21

• Propaganda had done its job and made women reluctant to work, they were mote likely to tell volunteers they had children and not work
• German government did not use women in all war work, they replaced male teachers/work on land rather than mines or heavy industry
• Germany used ‘foreign labour’ from places they had conquered instead of domestic women

Question 22

How did the war after 1940 affect women?

Answer 22

• German cities were bombed
• Women were bombed out and had to live without electricity, water and roofs
• Supplies of food and essentials were patchy and even subs, e.g fish oil for soap were scarce

Question 23

What change was introduced in October 1940?

Answer 23

• Women were allowed to join the armed forces in womens auxiliary services doing clerical and support jobs
• Members of BDM had to serve for 6 months then choose whether they wanted to stat
• By 1941 there was not enough women

Question 24

What did the Nazis do to get more women in auxiliary services in 1941?

Answer 24

• Introduced compulsory military service for women between 18 and 40
• Was not enforced as there was a variety of reasons to avoid it
• 1944 shortage of men meant women were trained to operate anti-aircraft guns nd were sent to work in signal stations close to the front