WOMEN:
Hitler also changed the lives of the women in Germany. Under the rule of Weimar, Germany had been a very decadent society. So, Hitler was keen to get away from that. He believed that the place for women in Nazi Germany could be summed up by the three Ks – Kinder, Kirche und Kuche, which meant Children, Church and Cooking. Also, he encouraged young women to get married and have large families of racially pure children (Aryans). Hitler wanted Germany’s birth rate to increase as it was falling, and the Nazis wanted more soldiers. In order to make this seem desirable to women, he employed many tactics. The “Law for the Encouragement of Marriage” was passed in June 1933. This gave all newly married couples a loan of 100 marks. For every child born, the family could keep 25% of the loan. This marriage loan system worked, and the number of marriages rose from 0.5 million in 1932, to 0.75 million in 1934. It did not, however, result in more babies, with most couples continuing to have two. The Government also introduced family allowances. Another way of encouragement was awarding medals to the most fertile mothers each year, with 5 earning a bronze, 6 or 7 earning a silver, and 8 or more earning a gold. Women were also subjected to propaganda and education, and studied subjects such as domestic science, physical fitness, and racial studies. However, a “Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring” ordered that women deemed unfit to be mothers must be sterilised. By 1937, almost 100 000 women had been sterilised. Also, Women’s groups were “brought into line” after 1933, merging into a single “German Women’s Enterprise”, the Deutsches Frauenwerk. It had almost 6 million members, and organised Mothers’ Schools to train women in household and parenting skills; and courses, lectures, and radio programmes on household topics.
