Women's Role In Nazi Germany Analysis

“The War Against The Jews” by Lucy Dawidowicz explores a very dark time in history and interprets it from her view. Through the use of other novels, she concurs and agrees to form her opinion. This essay will explore who Dawidowicz is, why she wrote the book, what the book is about, what other authors have explored with the same topic, and how I feel about the topic she wrote about. All in all, much research will be presented throughout the essay. In the end you will see how strongly I feel about the topic I chose. I believe that although Hitler terrorized the Jews, they continued to be stronger than ever, and tried to keep up their society.

The documents were released during a period when Hitler was rising to power and in the process of establishing his dictatorship. Hitler understood the force of women as an asset in a revolution, and Diehl’s documents were released at the right time to support Hitler’s views and approach to the treatment of women. Diehl’s ideology was very much in line with that of Nazism and she was thus an effective mouthpiece for Hitler’s thoughts and was able to influence women into supporting the Nazi Party.

The investigation assesses the Nazi regime from 1933 – 1945 in regards to the totality of their actions. In order to evaluate the Nazi regime on whether or not they were more evil than other genocidal regimes, the investigation evaluates how the Nazis controlled their country. The investigation will start in the early years of the Nazi regime in how they set up their totalitarian government and how they expanded their control. Then the Holocaust will be looked at for how the Nazis treated those they were exterminating. Accounts from soldiers and Jewish people who lived through the Nazi control will be mostly used to evaluate if the Nazis were more evil than other genocidal regimes. Two of the sources used in this essay, “The Liberation of Dachau” by Chuck Ferree, and “Fate did not let me go” a letter by Valli Ollendorff are then evaluated for their origins, purposes, values and limitations.

In the book Frauen: German Women Recall the Third Reich by Alison Owings, we are provided with plenty of women who describe their lives before, during and after Hitler received power. This book provides us with different views of the time era and as well as how the impact of Hitler affected every woman differently through social class, age, marital status and etc. This paper will explore the lives of three German women who seem to be in the Grey area during the over control of Hitler but mostly with the killings of the Jews. This paper will further explore the complicity and the different levels of resistance that these three women had during this time era which is 1933-1945. The three women that will be discussed in this paper are Margarete (Margrit) Fischer, Ellen Frey, and Christine (Tini) Weihs. When looking into the lives of all three women these women it seems as though women didn’t have much of a responsibility for the events that were happening around them. Although these women seemed to be complaint to a certain degree with the events there were going on around them. These women would have been complaint due to the fear of what happened to Germans when they stood against the events that took part.

From 1933, the Nazis Party have aimed to create the policy of Volksgemeinschaft, this is a component focused on the heart of the people’s community based on traditional values of the German people. The German society underwent radical changes under the Nazi regime as Hitler introduced various policies that have had a substantial effect on 6 prominent groups: German women, youth, schools and universities and churches, working class and the Jews. The implementation of Hitler’s new policies in the period 1933-1939 can be assessed to have significantly effected and transformed Germany society socially and culturally.

“Frauen: German Women Recall the Third Reich” by Alison Owings displays interviews with women who lived in Germany during the 1930s to 1940s. The two women in this book, Liselotte Otting and Freya von Moltke discuss their feelings about the Nazi government and their actions, most importantly how they felt about genocide of the Jewish population. Both women discussed their attitude and behavior toward during this time.

This essay is going to discuss the ways in which the Nazi’s persecuted the Jews between the years of 1933 to 1938. Through the rise of Nazism, Nazi beliefs and propaganda, Nuremberg laws and the Kristallnacht in which will be explained in detail, I will provide a knowledge based analysis of pre-war life and the initial lead up to the war.

Many historians would disagree that the Weimar Republic aided in creating a dramatic improvement of the workforce for women. Before the establishment of the Weimar Republic in the late 1918, women did not traditionally take on a role in the workforce, but many were traditional housewives whose responsibility was to care for their families.’ However the number of women in the workforce increased after the establishment of the Weimar Republic and women developed a larger role for themselves in German society both socially and economically as they became involved workforce. As women joined the workforce, the Weimar Republic established some standards to ameliorate the labor force. The improvement in the labor force started with the mass increase of women in different career fields, but also because the welfare standard was not met as women faced harsh working conditions and discrimination. The Weimar Republic and its constitution helped improve the welfare and workplace environment while also allowing for women to have a widespread of job options. The Weimar Republic opened new doors for women in the workforce and also introduced a diverse age and status range of women; there were married, single, young and older women working. Therefore, the Weimar Republic on played a moderate role in improving the issues in the workforce for women.

The women in World War 2 (1935-1945) were given a much more active role than the women in World War 1. They were significantly beneficial to the success of the allied forces fighting not only in Australia but all over the world. Their contribution not only to the military but to the continued growth of the country was outstanding in so many ways. They had to quickly learn skills which traditionally were male dominated and this included jobs which involved heavy labour and long hours for very little or no pay whilst trying to maintain in many cases a stable family life. (Australia.gov, 2015) If not for these women’s contribution during the Second World War Australia could have very well have been in a different situation than it is currently.

The role of women was extremely important for America during WW2 and were appreciated for their hard work, but not for ever. On the home front many of “ the people of this community respected women who work [ed] regardless of the type of work.” (Women Working at the Home Front). The women were respected by the people because they showed that a women, no matter the job, could also help with the fight, except without a gun. Women were determined to perform the job as long as they needed to and some enjoyed their newly found jobs, but they knew that “some jubilant day [they] will stay home again.” The companies who hired women to replace the men who went off to war appreciated what the women did, but as soon as the men come back, their appreciation

World War II took 690,000,000 men from their homes and six years to complete. Over these six years, with thousands of men away serving in the armed forces, the women of Germany and England both experienced significant lifestyle changes. Wartime gender roles were largely shaped by the political leaders of each country during the war; German Adolf Hitler led his women down the conservative and traditionalist path while British Winston Churchill embraced female independence and gender equality. Because of Nazi policies, women’s rights in Germany were dramatically curtailed, while in England, women’s rights greatly advanced.

Within the pages and creases of history books lay the lives of those before us. Women, if anyone, were the ones who were most underestimated and their capabilities were neglected. Women at first were not recognized. Their place was at home; cooking, cleaning, and taking care of children was indeed all that was there for women. They could not be involved in any way amidst their society. Then World War II occurred. Aside from the image of pilling corpses, deafening shots, and the fear of vindictive souls, came the beginning of a new era for women. As thousands of men were enlisting in American forces, millions of women replaced them in their jobs and even in their line of duty. It was women who were now soaked with sweat along their aching backs.

The government started to make the German women work in the factories all day while all the men were fighting, while at the end of the day still expecting them to come home and care for their children (Kuhr 2004). The girls also to end up selling their hair for fatherland and military purposes. The government did not care how the women were treat. The families were low on bread and had to save it for the soldiers while the children went hungry (Kuhr 2004).

At the beginning of the war, many women who considered themselves feminists, were excited for the Nazi party. These women believed that Hitler and the Nazi party would allow equality in their country. That they would employ and treat women fairly in the public and private spheres of life. However, it became very clear that this was not the Nazi ideology. Many women accepted this fact or even went on to agree with it. However, there were some feminists that disagreed and continued to fight back. Though women never resisted the Nazi party as a united force. Most acts of resistance were done by lone females, who held the belief of the feminist movement. However, because these acts of resistance were done by lone females, this made it easier for

The scope of this investigation consisted of an evaluation of the different factors and how they influenced the decision making process of Nazis. Sources were obtained from websites, books, as well as Museums to obtain the most appropriate and knowledge