How successful were Nazi policies towards women & the family?
Education played a major part in winning the hearts &
minds of the young swell as the hitler youth. The Nazis
directed what was taught in schools & placed special
emphasis on subjects they considered suitable.
So History showed the success of the Nazis
& Biology explained Nazi racial beliefs.
Physical Education time trebled in the 1930s.
Other subjects, like Race Studies & Ideology,
also appeared on the timetable, as Nazi
beliefs were taught as excepted facts.
Girls' education had a
greater emphasis placed
on domestic science &
subjects for motherhood in
girls' schools. Whereas
military training was mainly
emphasised for boys in
boys' schools.
In the classroom, textbooks had been rewritten to
present Nazi beliefs(biased). Only teachers who supported the
Party taught in schools. 97% became members of the
National Socialist Teachers' League, from propaganda
& intimidation. The League was founded to encourage
teachers in the 'correct' way of thinking.
History lessons emphasised the harshness of the ToV and used the
'stab in the back myth' to use jews and communists as scape goats,
Physics concentrated on weapon making & even Maths lessons for
young children were sometimes about bombing Jewish ghettos. Of
course the superiority of the Aryan race and the inferiority of
blacks, Eastern Europeans and in particular Jews was emphasised.
Nazis had very strong views about the place
of women in society. It was their duty to
remain at home as child-bearers & as
supporters of their husbands (The three K's)
. They were not considered as equal.
Employment opportunities for women declined
under the Nazis. Women were banned from jury
service because they were said to be incapable
of thinking without emotion. As a shortage of
workers developed, (particularly in the war
years), more women were encouraged to work,
but were never allowed to join the armed forces.
The Nazis encouraged women to have as many children as
possible. Hitler was alarmed at the falling birth rate in
Germany and also had to make up for the ToV where
germanys army had been restricted to only 100,000, so
contraception was discouraged & mothers with 8+ children
were awarded a golden Mother Cross (silver for 6 & bronze
for 4). Women were seen as 'baby makers' for the future of
germany and there aim was to simply be good mothers.
Motherhood & family life were also
prominent in Nazi propaganda. Posters &
broadcasts emphasised the qualities of
'traditional'. German women & smoking was
banned for them (in some cities), because it
was 'unladylike' & make-up & the latest
fashion was discouraged. Ideal German
women had flat heels, plaited hair & no
make-up.
Of course, many German women objected to their role as
second-class citizens as males were preferenced over jobs to
women, & some joined illegal opposition political parties to
campaign for better status, even though not they were not
considered equal in the 30s. Nazi beliefs about women were
not necessarily unusual, just more extreme in some cases.