Women in Nazi Germany 1933 - 1945

Women in Nazi Germany 1933 - 1945

1. Nazi Ideology

   • To have more children and take responsibility for bringing them up
   • To care for their house and their husbands
   • To stop paid employment except for very specialist jobs such as midwifery
   • Kinder, Kuche, Kirche
   • Woman's place was the home

2. Policies, changes and incentives 1933-1939

   • Marriage - increase suitable marriages
     • 1933 - Marriage loan of 600RM to unemployed women when they got married
     • 1937 - Marriage loan extended to women in work
     • 1938 - Marriage law made it easier for divorce on the grounds of infertility
   • Births - increase pure German births
     • Financial incentives
       • Marriage loans
       • Birth grants
     • Mother's Cross
       • Raise status
       • Gold
         • 8+ children
       • Bronze
         • 4/5 children
       • Silver
         • 6/7 children
     • Penalties
       • Higher taxes on childless couples
       • Tighter penalties on abortion
       • Restrictions on contraception information
   • Employment - reduce female employment
     • 1936 - Women in top civil service and medical jobs dismissed
     • 1933 - Women banned from being judges and lawyers
   • Education
     • Limited university enrolment to 10%

3. Policies, changes and incentives 1939-1945

   • Marriage
     • 1941 - Couples who were cohabiting after their marriage sent to concentration camp
   • Births
     • Encouragement of births outside of marriage
   • Employment
     • 1939 - Compulsory agricultural labour service for unmarried women under 25
     • Women used to help the war effort
       • Only after 1942
       • Between 17 and 45
       • Many exceptions
   • Education
     • Restrictions dropped
       • Greater demand for well-educated workers

4. How successful were the policies? How much did life change? Better/Worse

   • Generally, birth and marriage rates increased during the early part of the 1930's but this then lead to a slight decline during the war years.
   • Why did women go back to work in Nazi Germany during the late 1930's and 1940's?
     • More men were going away to war. Factories needed more workers to keep up with demand
   • How did the Nazis encourage women back to work?
     • Introduced a labour duty year for unmarried women
     • Abolished the marriage loan
   • How did this impact the Nazi message that women should have lots of children?
     • The Nazi message didn't change
       • They expected women to work and still have children
   • The Nazi policy towards women was incoherent and contradictory