The purpose of the Hitler Youth movement was to show the German youth from young age on that there was nothing more important than to follow of Nazi regime and that they should devote their whole life to their nation (“dem deutschen Volk”).
The reasons for Nazi policies towards women
There were a few reasons for Nazi policies towards women. One very important was to follow the Nazi traditional ideology. This means that the women should remain at home as child bearers and to look after their children and support their husbands.
In Nazi Germany women were not considered to be equal to men (“What the man gives in courage on the battlefield, the woman gives in self-sacrifice”, A. Hitler).This included the refusal to allow to join the army and from 1936 that no women could serve as judge and women were not longer accepted for jury duty. In 1933 the Women’s Front was created to support the traditional role of women.
Another reason was to increase the birth rate. Already the members of the League of German Girls (“Bund deutscher Mädchen”) were educated in their duty to have Aryan children. The Nazi made it tempting to the women – a married couple with six children or more was exempt from taxation. Also mothers with eight children or more were awarded a golden Mother Cross (with silver for six and bronze for four), this was a big honour. In 1935 low income families were given grants for each child born. The reason for all the encouraging incentives to increase the birth rate was the growing of the army and nation of the next generation.
The next reason for Nazi policies towards women was that the return to full male employment created a labour shortage – Women in Nazi Germany were needed for serving the needs of the economy during the war. That means that a large number of women were needed in agriculture, especially during war time, because all men who were able to do this were in the army.
Also, wages did not increase significantly and many families wanted a second income. Between 1933 and 1939 the number of women working increased from 11,6 to 14,6 million.
‘The most important reason why there was little opposition in Germany towards the Nazi regime was its use of propaganda.’ Explain how far you agree with this statement.
It is right that propaganda was an important reason why there was little opposition in Germany towards the Nazi regime but it was not the only one; there were a few other causes: the youth policy, the increase and improvement in the economy, the policy towards women and the way the opposition were treated.
The Nazi used propaganda toward rallies, speeches by Hitler and Goebbels (the minister of propaganda), pro Nazi newspapers and magazines. There they talked about how good the Nazi policy is and what they do for their nation.
“The idea of struggle is as old as life itself. In this struggle the stronger, the moreable, win while the less able, the weak, lose” – Hitler in a speech at Kulmbach, 5 February 1928.
It was easy to use political messages that were presented in a way to influence peoples thinking. A chancellor who was interested in his nation and wants to create a powerful nation, why would someone not like this way of policy?
Another reason was the youth policy. The youth were educated in and outside school. In school they learned in every subject about the Nazi regime and their ideology. Outside the school the pupils joined the Hitler Youth were the instruction of
young people into the way of Nazi thinking followed. It was not hard for the Nazis to be successful because the youth was interested in finding out what happened in the wide world, how well Germany did and just to be part of helping their great nation. So they did not even think about opposition, because there was so much to do and to think about. It was so easy to follow the Nazi policy.
“Then there were young people who wrote the word Reich on their banners, against a world of hatred and calumny and malice. They were convinced that a lost war was not enough to push a people into permanent servitude.” – Goebbels spoke to a group of young people about the 1920s, after the Nazis had come to power.
After World War One Germany was weak, had no money, there was keen unemployment and the economy collapsed. During the economy depression in the early 1930s the Nazis became very popular because they told the German people that they would give them back their jobs and destroy the old Weimar government.
This really happened when Hitler became chancellor – there was no unemployment any more. The economy increased, the people got better jobs and the regime started to build the Autobahnen (motorways) so that more people got jobs. Because of Hitler Germany’s economy increased and the people were not unemployed any more – there was no reason for opposition towards the Nazi regime.
Another cause why there was so little opposition in Germany was the policy towards women. Mothers were greatly respected and they were honoured for large families with the mother cross. Low income families were given grants for each child born. The Nazis followed a pro-natalist policy. This encouraged the birth of children. The greater employment opportunities were a reason too. In five years the number of women working increased from 11,6 to 14,6 million.
If someone was against the Nazi regime and wanted to oppose they just needed to look how the Nazis treated the oppositions. The communist party was banned from the Reichstag because they were against Hitler and his policy. The youth opposition like ‘The Swing movement’ and ‘The Edelweiss Pirates’ were investigated and leaders put into prison. The early leader of the SA Ernst Röhm was murdered in “the Night of the long Knives” in 1934 because the Nazi party thought he was planning a putsch against Hitler. There was some underground resistance to Nazi measures, some anti government pamphlets were produced. But there is evidence that such material was removed from public circulation quickly, either through imprisonment or execution of the persons involved (e. g. Sophie Scholl from the group “The white rose” in Munich). The most obvious opposition came from parts of the churches, yet this was not on a scale large enough to worry the government and was not pointed enough to have any great impact upon popular beliefs. And beside that people were just scared.
All these phenomenons are explanations why there was just a little opposition in Nazi Germany. Of course propaganda played an important roll, it held all this together. Because of propaganda the people saw how many ‘good’ things the Nazi regime did for Germany and when they found out – many people never – what Hitler really wanted it was too late.
In my opinion the Nazi propaganda was really successful and there was hardly any resistance and opposition against the regime because the always repeated few statements of the leaders (We bring employment; We are the biggest nation and will return to former greatness; There will be law and order in the country; also: We will get rid of the Jews and everything will improve) were for some years pretty much in balance with the reality. So the ongoing effectiveness of Nazi propaganda was for a long time well based on credibility of the messages: what they promised to the masses they could extensively fulfil. The terrible consequence was that these masses were more or less willing to ignore the highly criminal attitude behind it i.e. the killing of minorities. When radical opposition or resistance appeared (1944) it was on one hand too late, on the other hand the Nazi dictatorship powerful and brutal enough to eliminate these persons.
