Another way in which the Nazis took control of women’s lives was to sack thousands of women from their jobs and so, the newly unemployed women were encouraged to stick to the three Ks:- Kinder,Kirche und Kuche,which means ‘children, church and kitchen.’Therefore,by the male population and the Nazi party, this would have been seen as a real success because then there would be both more job openings for the already male dominated community and women could take their “Rightful positions at home.” However, from the women’s point of view, this would’ve been a total failure because this would mean that they were being forced into being homebound when they could be out doing the things they enjoyed doing instead.
Young people were also controlled by the Nazis in a variety of ways. This was due to the fact that these young people would evolve into the new generation of the Aryan race so, it was very important to gain their support whilst they young so; they could grow up, having had their minds successfully manipulated by the Nazis, with strong loyalty to the Nazi party.
One way in which the Nazis successfully “brainwashed” or controlled the children in school was to intervene with their education and fill their curriculum with subjects such as, the history of Germany or how the Aryan race were superior over the sub-human Jews or the Slavs of Eastern Europe. Another way of further increasing their popularity was when the Nazis produced organizations such as the Hitler youth and the League of maidens. These were very popular because they gave young people the opportunity to meet new people and it basically gave them the social life that they had been previously denied. Therefore in this sense, the Nazis were very successful in controlling the lives of the young people.
However although great success was expressed from the various organizations, there were also a vast number of failures; and this was due to the fact that as well as pro-Hitler organizations, there were also a few anti-Hitler ones. These were the “Swing movement” and the “Edelweiss pirates.”
The Swing Movement was dominated by middle-class teenagers who went to parties and gatherings concerning English and American music. They danced to jazz music that was banned (because of the fact that it was established by African Americans); they happily accepted Jews and they openly discussed sexual intercourse. They also purposely went against all the rules just to stab the Nazis in the back and to spark controversy.
The Edelweiss pirates were another example of an anti-Nazi organization, however these consisted of working class teenagers, as supposed to the middle-class ones in the Swing Movement.Generally,they weren’t political opponents of the Nazis but just generally made a point of how much they resented the Nazi control over their lives.
So, therefore the two organizations, although sometimes were resisted by the Nazis were a pure example of how the Nazi’s had successfully gained full control over the lives of all young people.
Although not of Aryan race, many Jewish women and young people inhabited Germany at this time and so also experienced being under control of the Nazis.Therefore; the Nazis devised a variety of ways to keep this “sub-human” race under control. One of these was to simply treat them unjustly of to force them to live in restricted areas called Ghettos. This would’ve been looked upon as a great success by the Nazis because it meant that full control had been gained over this race. Hitler also organized boycotts of Jewish shops and businesses so; this meant that life had successfully been made tough for the Jewish women that ran these businesses. Another way in which Jewish women and young people were controlled was the fact that in 1935, Jews were forbidden to marry or have sexual intercourse with pure-blooded Germans.Therefore; this would’ve meant that a great success would’ve been achieved by the Nazis because perfect Aryan breed would then be produced and would not contain any sub-human blood at all.
Jewish children also suffered the wrath of control in the sense that; they had to wear the Star of David when they went to school just to prove that they were not of Aryan race and they were also humiliated and segregated generally in the school community.
Therefore, on considering all the aspects concerning the successes and failures of the Nazis having control on the women and children between 1933 and 1939, I can conclude that it is incredibly difficult to say whether they were successful or not.So, basically I really feel that they generally gained quite a lot of success in controlling women and children, but failed miserably in other aspects. I also feel that there is no way that full success could possibly have been gained because in such a large empire there would always be people in disagreement with the views of the Nazis. Therefore I do not believe that neither success nor failure could ever fully be gained.
