Nazi views on women

What were women expected to do?

Stay home and look after the family and produce children

What slogan did Hitler have?

He believed that women’s lives should revolve around the three K’s

What were the three K’s?

Kinder (children), kuche (kitchen) and Kirche (church)

Why did Hitler want a high birth rate?

So that the population of the Aryan race would grow

What was the Law of the Encouragement of Marriage?

Newlyweds were given a loan of 1000 marks, of which they could keep 250 marks for each child they had

What was 1000 marks equivalent to?

On average ¾ of a year’s salary

What were the conditions to this loan?

Women had to remove themselves from the workforce

How were divorce laws manipulated in Nazi Germany?

They were designed to promote the birth of children - a man could divorce his wife if she couldn’t or wouldn’t produce children

What was the Mother’s Cross?

An award given to mothers who had large numbers of children, with gold, silver and bronze medals for higher numbers of children that they had

What was the Lebensraum programme?

Encouraged women to have children with SS men as this would create pure Aryan families - these children had the potential of becoming the future leaders of Germany

What measures were introduced to discourage women from working?

The Law for the Reduction of Unemployment

What did The Law for the Reduction of Unemployment do?

It gave women financial incentives to remain at home

What else encouraged women to stay at home during the war?

The Nazis didn’t conscript women to help in the war effort until 1943

Why did the numbers of women in the workplace increase?

Women provided cheap labour, so 2.4 million more women worked between 1933 and 1939

Why were women needed in the workplace?

The German economy grew, so a larger workforce was needed, and as men served in the army during the war, women were needed to fill in the gaps left by conscription

What were girls taught at school?

That a woman’s place was at home

What subjects did girls study in school?

Lessons in housework such as cooking, sewing and ironing, as well as racial studies so they would be able to choose suitable Aryan husbands in the future

What restrictions did women face from 1933?

Women weren’t allowed to hold jobs in professional employment such as a doctor or teacher

How were these restrictions extended in 1936?

Professional jobs were stretched to include jobs in the justice system, including the right to serve on a jury

What were women expected to wear?

Traditional German peasant fashions

What did Traditional German peasant fashions include?

Plain peasant costumes, hair in plaits or a bun and flat shoes

What were women encouraged not to do?

Wear makeup or trousers, dye their hair or smoke in public, or even stay slim!

Why were women discouraged from staying slim?

It was thought that thin women had trouble giving birth

What was the German Women’s League?

A group which coordinated all adult women’s groups in the country. Its representatives travelled across the country to give advice on childcare, cooking, and healthy eating.

How many women attended the German Women’s League’s training courses?

1.7 million women had attended its motherhood training course by March 1939

What was the Nazi Women’s Organisation?

Set up to develop an elite female group dedicated to Nazi beliefs and ideas

How did the birth rate change in Germany?

It increased from 970,000 born in 1933 to 1,413,000 in 1939

How did Nazi Germany compare to the Weimar Republic with women’s rights?

In Weimar Germany, women had more freedoms, such as the right to vote and equal pay to men in the government. Many women also attended university, however, there was a declining birth rate since many women were focusing on having a career, therefore not wanting as many children. In Nazi Germany, this lower population due to a decreased birth rate was seen as a problem since it didn’t fit with their plans to extend German territory, so they encouraged women to stay home and look after their families (including supporting their husbands and having many children)