Study SOURCE A
SOURCE A (from a speech made by a leader of the League of German Maidens in 1940)
There is no greater honour for a German woman than to bear children for the Fuhrer and the Fatherland. The Fuhrer has ruled that no family will be complete without at least four children and that every year, on his mother's day, all mothers with more than four children will be awarded the Mother's Cross.
What can you learn from Source A about the role of women in Nazi Germany?
Hitler wanted women to accept a subordinate role in Nazi Germany and become housewives and mothers; he wanted to increase the population to make Germany and its army stronger and prepare for war. Consequently, women were forced to accept a subordinate role in society. In Nazi Germany, men took all of the decisions and women had to accept them.
Study SOURCE A
SOURCE A: from a letter written by a German teacher in 1938; this was published outside Germany in the book 'Hitler calls this living'
The youth organisations, particularly the Hitler Youth, have been accorded powers of control which enable every boy and girl to exercise authority backed up by threats. This has its effects on the relations between children and parents. Children have been deliberately taken away from parents who refused to acknowledge their belief in National Socialism, on the grounds that the parents influenced their children in a manner hostile to the State.
Source A suggests that the main aim of the Nazi Youth Movements was to break relations within families. Use the source, and your own knowledge, to explain whether you agree with this interpretation.
the Youth Movements did indeed try to break down family loyalties but that was not their main purpose. Hitler wanted to create a state based on Nazi ideology and this was the real aim of the Youth Movements. He wanted Germans to accept their roles in the new Germany and consequently, boys were brought up to be workers and soldiers, and girls to be housewives and mothers. The Youth Movements and education inculcated these roles in the younger generation. It was the creation of the Nazi state that was the fundamental aim of the Youth Movements.
