Explain the reasons for the Nazi Polices towards Women ? ( 8 Marks )
‘The Woman has her own battlefield. With every Child that she brings into the world, she fights the battle for the nation.’ ( Adolf Hitler – 1935 )
Women in Nazi Germany were to have specific roles. Hitler was very clear about this. This role was that they should be good mothers and bring up their children at home while their husbands were working. This was taught to Women at very young ages; for example girls of the age of ten joined the Jungmadel (Hitler Youth), then from fourteen they entered the Bund Deutscher Madel ( German Girls League ). In this they were taught their role of being a good wife and mother and that their place was to be in the home – the 3K’s Kinder, Kuche, Kirche was their main rule to follow, which simply mean: Children, Church, Kitchen.
Women had many roles in Nazi Germany, one of which was Marriage. When Hitler published ‘Mien Kampf’ (My Struggle), he clearly stated that he was going to go to war. Producing Children for Nazi’s was vital, they saw children as the first generation that would grow up in a Nazi world. However, when Hitler came to power in 1933 the birth rate had fallen from two million births a year in 1900 to less than one million. This was due to the shortage of men caused by World War One; more than 1.8 million German Women were unmarried. To over come this situation Nazis introduced a number of different laws and rewards to encourage women to get married and have children. For example, marriage loans of up to 600 marks were given to women who gave up there job in order to get married and these loans did not have to be paid back if the women have at least four children.
