Hitler's Influence On The Role Of Women In Nazi Germany

Hitler had initiated changes that insisted women should return to their traditional roles as homemakers and provide healthy offspring to the Nazi state. Childbearing was encouraged in Germany, however this was only acceptable to the Aryans not the Jews. Hitler implemented policies such as financial incentive marriage loans and special medals were given to women who gave birth to large families. He also made divorce difficult, abortion and contraception illegal in order to achieve his objective effectively. Also, women‚ organizations were created to indoctrinate women with Nazi ideas such as, The German Women‚ Enterprise. These programs promoted cookery classes, marriage, motherhood and nationhood. The women organizations have had a major effect on Nazi women as it portrayed that Hitler made effective changes in order to develop women to be the mothers of a future, healthy generation. Hitler disliked clever, educated

The document serves to support Hitler’s plan to create a community of German people, the Volksgemeinschaft, in which women played a crucial role. Nazi ideology defined the community in opposition to the individualistic society produced by liberal democracies and the false sense of community promoted by the communists. In other words, Hitler aimed to create a German community of people that

‘The role of women in Nazi Germany?’ what is it? In this essay I will

Hitler had a very clear idea of women’s role; she was the centre of family life, a housewife and the mother. Their job was to keep the house nice for their husband and family – their lives should revolve round the three ‘ks’, church, children and cooking. This ideal was based around Hitler wanting to achieve his long held goal of Lebensraum to increase the German Aryan population. Strasser argues that ‘National Socialism intended to restore the natural order, and states that this was to accord women the respect they deserved as mothers and housewives’, therefore improving their status. However Carey argues that women’s position did not improve and “throughout the civil war

He believed that “Aryans” were the purified race. He pronounced that his race must remain pure in order to one day take over the world. For Hitler, the ideal "Aryan" was blond, blue-eyed, and tall. Although Hitler was not even close to looking like an Aryan, he showed the love he had for them. His mind-set was very racist and discriminatory. He had the idea of a “master race” and he discriminated anyone that wasn’t a part of it. He believed that the Germanic people were the only purified race and everyone else was filthy. The Nazis began to put their ideology into practice with the support of German scientists who believed that the human race could be improved by limiting the reproduction of people considered "inferior." The only way Hitler could carry on his “master race” was by getting rid of every non-aryan. He went on a hunting spree for every Jew, Gypsy, homo-sexual, etc. He thought they were not pure and didn’t belong on earth, and this expresses the hatred and how discriminatory he was towards anyone that wasn’t German. By doing this, the Nazis grew in power and had the German society following them, which shows the control and power of Hitler’s words and actions. When Hitler and the Nazis came to power, these beliefs became the government ideology and were spread in publicly displayed posters, on the radio, in movies, in classrooms, and in newspapers. Hitler traveled in planes from city to city, spreading the word of the Aryan-race. He spoke to radio stations, educated children in school, posted pictures and many posters, but he mostly gave brainwashing speeches that tricked most of the German Society to follow him. He used blind obedience to grow his idea. Although most Germans followed out of fear, others seemed to resist and go against

Hitler wanted his race to have no weaknesses. If women didn’t work, there would be increased family allowance and the honour Cross of German Mother Hood. Woman would be offered extra payments from the Nazi’s if they were to stay at home and create these Aryan race children, mothers were rewarded with money for the work they did. This was all introduced in order to entice Women from the work place back to there home’s and to have babies. Increasing the population was a well thought out plan for the future made by Hitler; he did have long term plans for himself and Volksgemeinschaft.

Why women? In 1933, Germans began their discrimination against the Jews; men, women, homosexuals, and children alike. Many testimonies, memoirs and historical documents hold the facts of the damage the Nazis inflicted, the amount of Jews that suffered and died, and the lives it changed all around the world. But female victims have their own unique story to tell through a different lens that brings about a whole new horror of its own. It underlines the strength that women hold that marks them as true warriors of survival.

Hitler’s belief in German conquest as a means of reordering the racial composition of Europe dominated his military decisions (Witherbee). Hitler believed that the Jewish population was an enemy of the Germans. Hitler’s other reason for the holocaust was to make the perfect human a male or female with blonde hair and blue eyes. The government set out to impoverish Jews and remove them from the German Economy (“introduction to the Holocaust”).

In his speech to the National Socialist Women’s League on September 8th 1934, Hitler delineated the roles that German men and women should have in society. He proclaimed and he defined that a woman’s world should be limited to “just her husband, her family, her children, and her home”. The rights of German women were greatly repressed since Nazi ideology regarding gender was extremely traditionalist. For the National Socialists, women were to occupy traditional roles of support and care, all in service of creating a master race. For an “Aryan” woman living in Nazi Germany, “to be a wife and mother” should be her highest

During the Second World War, experiences shared by different groups during this time, differed greatly, and each group played their own important role during this war. Women gave their loved ones to the war, along with their time, energy, and at times some would even give their own lives. In Germany however, Hitler had a different mindset on women. He stated,

Each nation’s methods and motives of mobilizing the women were very similar. The Soviet Union decided to mobilize their women first among the three nations, in 1941, right as the Nazis violated the non-aggression pact, or the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939. They demanded that women that were aged 18 to 40 register to work eight hour to eleven hour shifts. The Germans enacted a similar decision much later, in 1943, and demanded a similar age bracket of 17 to 45 years of age. The Germans were not doing so well at this time, and this led to the reluctant but necessary policy change. Joseph Goebbels was given the responsibility of attempting to raise morale and inspire not only the women of Germany, but also the children and the elderly in his famous speech at the Sportpalast in February of 1943, and he did so by reminding them of their dedication to their country and how it must not fade during such a crucial time ; but despite this, the initial response to this was

He saw her as the ideal Aryan woman who could promote the motives of power and beauty. Riefenstahl’s feelings for Hitler

When Hitler became Chancellor in 1933 there were several areas that concerned him about the position of women in Germany. A few of these included the drastic decrease of babies born in 1933, the big increase of female employment and the ‘immorality’ of women. Hitler believed that the role of women was to stay at home and have children, as many as possible.

Nietzsche was seen as a misogynist and his views towards women were influenced by Schopenhauer. The Nazi’s on the other hand allowed women to have influential roles aside from having roles in the household or at churches. Women served as resistance fighters, physicians, propagandists, and even as journalists. Jane Anderson was a Nazi propagandist who spread propaganda on Hitler, life in the Third Reich, and anti-American views (Cosner 6). In addition, women participated in the Women’s Labor Service in young women spent a few months to a year helping build community projects for to develop towns and local communities (Stephenson 242). These projects were designed to have young women earn pay and serve the interests of the community. This united women together to serve for the Third Reich and it elevated their status and role in society. While Nietzsche had a negative view of women, The Nazi’s saw that women were useful in their party politics and could manage the household. Both women and men of the Aryan race were united on racial consciousness of their ethnic background and superiority during the Third

The women of Germany were discriminated against by Hitler and the Nazi Party, as a result of stereotypes that were supported by Hitler. When he rose to power in 1933, Hitler had a master plan to rebuild Germany, through their economy, military and the preservation of the Aryan race. To preserve the Aryan race, Hitler had to preserve the women of Germany and force them into a specific role that supported the role of men in Nazi society. Hitler did this by forcing women out of work or education and into domesticity.