There were also penalties for childless couples, they would have higher taxes. Measures were introduced for compulsory sterilisation of “undesirables.” Also the ‘Prevention of Hereditarily diseased offspring’ law was established. This made sterilisation compulsory for people suffering from hereditary illness or physical disabilities. This act included people with depression, epilepsy, blindness, deafness, physical handicaps and alcoholics. By 1937 almost 200,000 compulsory sterilisations had been performed.
During 1936 the Nazis opened special maternity homes called ‘Lebensborn.’ These were designed to be breeding centres for production of pure Aryan children. You could describe them as ‘organised brothels,’ which encouraged births outside marriage. The effect of these measures to increase pure German births was the birth rate rose between 1933-9 then slowly declined. However, the increase may have been due to the economic recovery than to Nazi polices. The birth rate rose compared to during the depression; but did not get back to levels of the Weimar Germany. Also the Nazi eugenics, a process that aimed to develop techniques for racial improvement, reduced the population potential.
Another of the Nazi policies was to increase marriages. During 1933 unemployed couples were offered 600 RM as a marriage loan. The marriage loan system encouraged many young people to marry early. Then in 1937 the loan was extended to women in work. The Nazis then brought in a marriage Certificate of ‘Fitness to marry’ before a marriage licence was issued. Then in 1938 the marriage law extended the grounds for divorce. In order to create Hitler’s “Master Race” the Nazis introduced the “Blood Protection Law” this meant marriages to Jews, Blacks or gypsies were forbidden.
After 1939, if mixed races tried to marry they be sent to concentration camps. Also the couples found cohabiting after their marriage had been banned were sent to concentration camps as well. Underlying all these schemes were Nazi ideas about family life. This followed tern firm policies:
Remember that you are a German! , If you are genetically healthy, do not stay single; keep your body pure, keep your mind and spirit pure; marry only for love and as a German choose only a spouse of similar or related blood. In choosing a spouse, ask about his forebears, health is essential to physical beauty and do not look for a playmate but for a companion in marriage, also you should want to have as many children as possible.
However this was yet another inconsistency because Labour services and conscription meant young mean would be less likely to marry and have children. The effect of all these penalties and laws increased marriage from 516,000 in 1932 to 740,000 in 1934. Divorces also increased after 1938. However, this increase in marriage may have been due more to economic optimism then to government policies. Later divorce was extended to help national objectives. The Nazi policies towards women suffered from contradictions for example the Nazis acted against the interest of families. The shortage of affordable housing and resulting in high rents created by the priority given to rearmament meant couples found it difficult finding accommodation to have large families.
Another Nazi aim was to not only increase births but also to develop healthy Germans. As well as increasing the population the Nazis wanted to reduce the mortality rate; this was linked to producing Aryan children with eugenics. There was a vast expansion of health offices especially in rural areas. The Nazis also aimed to improve sanitation, preventative medicine, genetic and racial care; this was helped by the National Socialist Welfare Organisation (NSV.) However, Welfare support was restricted for Jews, non-Aryans, political opponents, physical disabilities and mental illnesses.
During the war, childcare facilities improved, especially for working mothers. The effect of these developments was that infant mortality dropped from 7.7% in 1933 to 6.6% in 1936. The NSV was largely staffed by women and improved opportunities. The Welfare policies are closely linked to the eugenic policies.
However, during the war the restrictions were dropped as well-educated women were in great demand for work. So there was a drop in numbers of women at university until the Second World War. Because of the war restrictions on opportunities for women were increasingly relaxed a woman were needed, since demand for workers and soldiers grew.
Related to limiting university enrolment and education, was employment. The Nazis aimed to reduce female employment, because women were needed in the home to look after the children. This is once again directly related to birth rate as well as Welfare. In 1933, Women in top civil service and medical jobs were dismissed and they were later banned from being judges and lawyers, or any kind of professional careers.
Nevertheless, when war broke out Hitler was encouraged to introduce conscription, he rejected due to ideological grounds. Also he was concerned that the effect on soldiers’ morale of drafting their wives into factories. Most women preferred to stay at home than work in factories. Hitler’s reluctance to impose conscription was also partly due to this. Here it was a case of ideology conflicting with economic need. Particularly in 1936, there were labour shortages in key areas. In 1939, compulsory agricultural labour service for unmarried women under 25 was enforced. Women were exhorted to help the war effort, but only in 1942 were woman of 17-45 told to register for work. The effect was that the number of women in employment rose and continued to do so during the war. The Nazi policies had marginal effect on overall female employment, with the main impact on civil service professions. During the war women were less mobilised than in the UK or the USA.
Public life was also on the list of Nazi aims towards women. This meant organising women and incorporating them in the Nazi ‘Volksgemeinchaft.’ No female Nazi members of the Reichstag were permitted. Two women’s organisations were then created the NSF and DFW. These organisations supported the war effort by making clothes for the Russian Front.
The effect of enforcing these constrictions on public life for German women meant female participation on Nazi bodies increased. In many ways the Nazis gave increased opportunities for women involved in public life, although they were excluded from decision making.
Many of the Nazi ideas were just more extreme or explicit versions of views that were widespread well before the Nazis gained power. Also the Catholic Church and Conservation organisations advocated the separate spheres view of women’s role and stressed the importance of procreation. Despite this the Nazi polices were still in many ways a form of indoctrination and were just a small part of Hitler’s plans to create a “master race.” However, it was successful and in 1933 the birth rate rose.
The Nazis policies suffered from several contradictions. The main burden of their propaganda was to encourage the healthy Aryan family, as a small unit of the ‘Volksgemeinschaft.’ However, several of their policies undermined the family. The demands on the Hitler Youth too youngsters away from the family and encouraged them to challenge any non-Nazi attitudes of their parents.
Yet another contradiction the Nazi Policies suffered from was employment. The Nazis attempt to drive women in all types of jobs increased, mainly due to the economic recovery. The “totalitarian” Nazi state was thus far less effective in utilising its resources then the liberal regimes in Britain and the USA.
However, as well as unattractive aims to the policies there were benefits. In some areas, such as women’s organisations and youth groups, the Nazis widened experience for women. Also social services saw an improvement. Generally the Nazi Policies had an effect. There was an increase in birth rate and marriage. Some could say due to economy rather than government policies but there was still an effect. So general health care improved, as did the public life of German women. They were open to more opportunities and became more involved in public life. So, although there were contradictions in the Nazi policies they generally had a positive effect on German women’s lives.
