The Impact of Nazi Policies on Women (OCR GCSE History B (Schools History Project)): Revision Note

Summary

During the 1920s, women in Germany had won many freedoms. They had the right to vote in elections and many had developed independent social lives and had careers in the professions.

The Nazis set about reversing these developments and returning women to being solely mothers and homemakers. This was partly motivated by their views on women but also by attempting to raise Germany's birth rate.

The Nazi policies towards women had mixed results both in terms of women leaving the workplace and increasing the birth rate.

The Nazi Party's view of women

• The Nazis had very clear views and expectations of women

The mission of the woman is to be beautiful and bring children into the home

Joseph Goebbels

• Women were told to concentrate on the ‘three Ks’:

  • Kinder (children)

  • Kirche (church)

  • Küche (cooking)

Nazi policies on women

Nazi policies towards women

• The Nazis wanted to reverse the changes to women’s roles that had happened in the Weimar Republic

• Gertrud Scholtz-Klink was appointed leader of the National Socialist Women's League and oversaw all policies related to women

The German Women’s Enterprise (DFW) 

• All women-related organisations had to join the German Women's Enterprise (DFW):

  • Organisations that failed to join were banned

  • Members were enrolled on courses about childcare, cooking and sewing

• Several Nazi policies were introduced to increase the birth rate, which had fallen to one million births per year by 1933

1933 - The Law for the Encouragement of Marriage 

• Loans of 1,000 marks (equivalent to eight months’ wages) were available to women if two requirements were met:

  • Women had to get married

  • Women had to quit their jobs or stay unemployed

• Mothers who gave birth to four children did not have to pay the loan back

  •  Each child born to a woman reduced the loan by a quarter

1935 - The Lebensborn Programme 

• Started by SS leader, Heinrich Himmler

• Paired SS men with single women to create ‘genetically pure’ children

• Only women and men with a clear ‘Aryan’ ancestry were allowed to join

• Special Lebensborn homes were created for women to rest after giving birth

1938 - Divorce Laws 

• Husbands could legally divorce their wives for failing or refusing to have children

• Women who had abortions could also be divorced

1939 - The Mother’s Cross 

• Awards presented on Mother’s Day in Germany were available to women who had four or more children

  • Mothers with gold medals were saluted in public by the Hitler Youth

  • Hitler was named the godfather of the tenth child in any family

The impact of Nazi policies on women

• With the focus on women staying at home and caring for the family, the Nazis introduced laws to reduce the number of women at work: 

• Nazi policies towards women initially intended them to be at home and support the family

  • At the outbreak of the Second World War, many women had to work in factories and other industries to replace men who had gone away to fight

• Nazi policies towards women had mixed success: