Evaluation of the Impact of Nazi Policy on Women in Germany

Nazi policy in Germany between 1933 and 1939 had a significant impact on all living under their jurisdiction, but a particular group who was significantly impacted and is often overlooked is that of German women. Women in Nazi Germany had rights considered basic in this day and age stripped away from them, and were forced to put their bodies under significant strain to please the Führer. However, despite this, many German women found a purpose in the war, and devoted themselves wholly to their found purpose – whether that be serving Adolf Hitler, or rebelling against him. It is clear that without the impact women had on the Nazi regime, Hitler’s ideals would have fallen apart, ending the war before it even began.

During the short-lived era of the Weimar Republic predeceasing Nazi rule, women in Germany were allowed very progressive rights, freedoms, and social statuses by the standards of the time. The Weimar Constitution of 1919 enacted equality in education for the sexes, equal opportunity in civil service appointments, and equal pay in the professions. These changes put Germany in the group of advanced countries in terms of women's legal rights. Czechoslovakia, Iceland, Lithuania and the Soviet Union also had no distinction between the sexes in the professions, while countries such as France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and Norway held onto restrictions for the professions for women. However, with the beginning of the Third Reich, patriarchal standards were to be reinforced strictly, and the feminist ideals of equality quashed. The Nazi idea of an organised society involved gender roles being harshly enforced, and options limited to Kinder, Kirche, Kuche (children, church, kitchen). Similarly to much of what Hitler deigned to be a social ill, feminism was supposedly linked to Jewish intellectuals and Marxists. He stated that women could not compete with men, so inserting them into male spheres would only hurt their position in society, ultimately depriving them of their rights. However, although Hitler’s rule was definitely anti-feminist, it was by no means anti-woman. Women were to play one of the most vital roles for the Nazi’s – giving birth to and raising a new generation of ‘pure bred’ Aryan Nazis. Surprisingly, many woman actually agreed with Hitler’s gender roles and praised him for bringing back traditional values. These same women believed feminism to be too progressionist, and agreed that a woman’s place was in the home. Because of this popular support, majority of women were happy to leave the workforce and return to the traditional family life of cleaning, cooking, and raising children.

A woman’s role in Nazi Germany was one of great value to the Fuhrer. A German woman was to marry a German man, and to have as many children as possible, all raised to be future Nazis. Hitler was very clear about this role, and went to great lengths to ensure it was enforced. In 1933, the Law for the Encouragement of Marriage was passed. This law stated that all newly married couples would receive a government loan of 1000 marks. Instead of simply paying this loan back as normal loans are, married couples could pay it with the birth of children. The birth of one child wiped 25% off, two children 50%, three children 75%, and with the birth of a fourth child, the entire loan was cleared. The aim of the law was to ensure that newly weds would have as many children as possible to eventually groom into future mothers and Nazi soldiers. But it was not only married couples that were encouraged to have children. Heinrich Himmler founded the Lebensborn project on December 12, 1935. The Lebensborn project erected houses in which young, ‘racially pure’ single women were expected to go and become pregnant by a Nazi soldier. The children born in the Lebensborn nurseries were then taken by the SS. Lebensborn provided support for expectant mothers, wed or unwed, by providing a home and the means to have their children in safety and comfort. This process of using women as breeding cattle for the Nazi forces was unfortunately used to a great extent with some 20,000 babies being bred in the twelve years of the Third Reich. To celebrate the successful breeding, On the birthdate of Hitler’s mother, August 12th, awards of the Motherhood Cross were given to women who had produced the most children. A gold cross was awarded to mothers of 8 or more children, silver to mothers of 6 children and bronze to mothers of four children.

Although there was a strong support of Hitler’s ideals, not all women approved of Hitler’s views on their role in life. Many of these women were intellectuals such as doctors, scientists, lawyers, judges, and teachers – women who had worked hard to be successful in life and were not ready to have that simply stripped from them. In protest to Hitler’s anti-feminist policies, these women rebelled by joining left-wing opposition groups such as the Communists, hiding Jews, and plotting against the Fuhrer. However, if they were caught, no matter their race, they would be sent to concentration camps. The Nazis opened their first concentration camp for women at Moringen in Lower Saxony. By 1938 the camp was unable to accommodate the growing number of women prisoners and a second one was built at Lichtenburg, near Wittenberg. The next year another camp was opened in Ravensbrück, located 50 miles north of Berlin. The camp could accommodate about 6,000 prisoners at a time. According to Louis L. Snyder an estimated 50,000 women died in Ravensbrück.

Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime stripped women of their basic rights and controlled how they lived, forcing a monumental lifestyle change from that of the Weimar Republic. However, without their support and cooperation, Hitler could never have enforced his rule to the extent that he did, and his reign would have collapsed far sooner.

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