Nazi Germany - Women Flashcards

1
Q

Women’s public life in NG (Politics & Culture)

Describe how politics, government and any decision-making in the Reichstag changed

A
  • There was not a single female Nazi deputy in the Reichstag
  • The Nazi Party also excluded women from senior positions within the Party and from all positions in government.
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2
Q

Women’s public life in NG (Politics & Culture)

Describe how the position of women working for the state with affliations to the Reichstag changed

A
  • In 1934, women who were working as civil servants in goverment offices were dismissed.
  • From 1936, women were restricted from working for the judiciary, & could no longer act as judges, prosecutors or members of a jury.
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3
Q

Women’s public life in NG (Politics & Culture)

Describe a continuity of how women could have mild influence & presence in politics

A
  • The wives of senior Nazi officials achieved a high-profile status in Nazi Germany.
  • E.g Emmy Göring (the wife of military leader Hermann Göring) served as Adolf Hifler’s hostess at a lot of state functions.
  • Considered by some as the “First Lady of the Third Reich”
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4
Q

Women’s public life in NG (Politics & Culture)

Describe a continuity of how women could have influence in politics

A
  • Gertrud Schlotz-Klink was appointed the leader of the National Socialist Women’s League.
  • In July 1936, she was appointed as head of the Woman’s Bureau in the German Labour Front, with the responsibility of persuading women to work for the benefit of the Nazi government.
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5
Q

Women’s public life in NG (Politics & Culture)

In what way was Scholtz-Klink’s position is politics unprogressive & contradictory

A
  • Despite her own position, she spoke in participation of women in politics, condemning the female politicians of the Weimar era.
  • She claimed that for a woman to be involved in politics, she would have to “become like a man” which would “shame her sex” and prevent her from achieving anything for the nation.
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6
Q

Women’s public life in NG (Politics & Culture)

Describe a continuity of the view of women being active in society & public life

A

Much like in the Weimar period, the Nazi Party believed that women should remain in the home or the private sphere, as public life was strictly a man’s world.

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7
Q

Women’s public life in NG (Politics & Culture)

Describe a change of the view of women being active in society & public life

A
  • If women were involved in the public sphere, they were seen to be unable to accomplish their duties of motherhood.
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8
Q

Women’s public life in NG (Politics & Culture)

Describe a continuity of how women could mildy participate in politics via organisations

A
  • Women in Nazi Germany could participate in specific women’s organisations set up by the Nazi Party, that aimed to promote Nazi ideology among women,
  • through educational courses to train women how to be mothers and housewives
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9
Q

Women’s public life in NG (Politics & Culture)

Give 2 examples of organisations Nazis set up to involve women in politics

A
  • National Socialist Women’s League
  • German Women’s Enterprise
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10
Q

Women’s public life in NG (Politics & Culture)

What are the statistics explaining the continuity of how women could mildy participate in politics via organisations

A
  • Approximately 3500 women worked full-time for the National Socialist Women’s League,
  • an elite group within the Nazi Party which had 2 million female members by 1938
  • making up 40% of the total Nazi Party membership
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11
Q

Women’s public life in NG (Politics & Culture)

Describe how the Nazis sort change to influence the appearance of women

A

The Nazi Party commissioned fashion designers to develop new styles of clothing that would reflect the Nazis’ views of gender.

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12
Q

Women’s public life in NG (Politics & Culture)

Describe a significant change in a right of women in Nazi Germany

A

Women’s right to vote was taken away from them in Nazi Germany.

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13
Q

Women’s public life in NG (Politics & Culture)

Describe an example of how the life of a Jewish female peformer changed from Nazi persecution

A
  • Elisabeth Bergner, a Jewish actress who gained fame during the years of the Weimar Republic,
  • was denounced by the Nazi Party in 1933
  • and forced to flee Germany to England to continue her career on stage and in the cinemas.
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14
Q

Women’s public life in NG (Politics & Culture)

Describe a significant change in the lives of women in Nazi Germany concerning freedom, expression & culture

A
  • The Nazis attempted to eradicate what they saw as the cultural deterioration of German society during the Weimar era.
  • Cabaret club and Jazz clubs were closed down in 1935.
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15
Q

Women’s public life in NG (Politics & Culture)

Describe a signifcant change for all minority women in NG

A
  • The Nuremburg Laws of 1935, deprived all non-Aryans of their political and legal rights,
  • no longer considering them citizens of Germany
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16
Q

Women’s public life in NG (Politics & Culture)

Describe a change in the stereotypes of women which was influenced by their increasingly domestic role

A
  • The Nazi Party saw the masculinisation of women as a significant threat to the German nation
  • Women were discouraged from slimming (losing weight) as this was considered bad for child birth
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17
Q

Women’s public life in NG (Politics & Culture)

Describe a continuity in terms of how women could become of high-profile

A

Some women were able to become high profile as cultural professionals in Nazi Germany, e.g Leni Riefenstahl

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18
Q

Women’s public life in NG (Politics & Culture)

Who was Leni Riefenstahl

A
  • Leni Riefenstahl became Nazi Germany’s most famous film maker,
  • producing propaganda films for the Nazi regime,
  • such as the “Triumph of the Will’ in 1933,
  • & the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany
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19
Q

Women & the Domestic Lives in NG

How did divorce mildly change in Nazi Germany

A
  • From 1938, husbands and wives could divorce their partners if they were infertile or did not want to have children
  • This would allow them to remarry and reproduce with a new spouse
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20
Q

Women & the Domestic Lives in NG

How did the Nazi stance of encouraging reproduction effect precautions for women

A
  • The Nazi Party prohibited the use of contraceptives.
  • From 1933, birth-control organisations which produced and distributed contraceptives were banned.
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21
Q

Women & the Domestic Lives in NG

Change: Childless couples were forced to pay …………………in Nazi
Germany.

A

higher taxes

22
Q

Women & the Domestic Lives in NG

Change: Mothers received concessions on……

A
  • holidays
  • travel (e.g railway fares)
  • entertainment (e.g free theatre tickets)
  • household bills
23
Q

Women & the Domestic Lives in NG

Describe a signficant change througha scheme which rewarded women for having children

A
  • From 1938, women who conceived and raised children were awarded the ‘Mother’s Cross’ for having contributed highly to the strength of the German nation
  • E.g. 8 or more children for a Gold medal, 6 or more for a silver and 4 or more for a bronze
24
Q

Women & the Domestic Lives in NG

Give a statistic which would suggest marriage rates changed in NG

A

Marriage rates increased from 516,000 in 1932 to 740,000 in 1934.

25
Q

Women & the Domestic Lives in NG

In what way did the Nazis change their perception on unmarried women

A
  • 1935 - Lebensborn Programme started & cared for unmarried, “racially pure” mothers and their children.
  • this also encouraged single, “racially pure” women to visit organised brothels to conceive children with members of the SS
26
Q

Women & the Domestic Lives in NG

Describe a change in the discrimination of minority women

A
  • Women who were considered racially impure or genetically deficient were forcibly sterilised
  • 30,000 women were sterilised in Hitler’s first year in office
  • By 1937, 95,000 women had been sterilised
27
Q

Women & the Domestic Lives in NG

Describe how abortion rights change in NG

A
  • Prohibited much more strictly than in WG
  • In 1943, the death penalty was introduced
  • for anyone who had performed an abortion to terminate a ‘valuable’ pregnancy, being accused of ‘racial sabotage’
28
Q

Women & the Domestic Lives in NG

Describe a change which meant motherhood was celebrated annually on a national scale

A

May 1934 Mother’s Day was made an official national holiday in Germany

29
Q

Women & the Domestic Lives in NG

In what ways did childbirth provide economic benefits in Nazi Germany

A
  • From 1933, Aryan couples were given marriage loans worth just over half a year’s earnings
  • The repayment of the loan was reduced by 25% for each child couples raised
30
Q

Women & the Domestic Lives in NG

How did taxes change in relation to child birth

A
  • Income tax was reduced in proportion to the number of children a couple had;
  • families with six or more did not pay any
31
Q

Women & the Domestic Lives in NG

In what way did healthcare for women inprove in nazi Germany

A
  • Medical and welfare services for mothers improved under Nazi rule
  • 25,000 mother and child centres were set up
  • By 1944, 5 million women had visited new maternity centres.
32
Q

Women & the Domestic Lives in NG

How did a change in legislation restrict marriage in Nazi Germany

A
  • Under the Nuremburg Laws of 1935,
  • German Jews were prohibited from marrying or
  • having sexual relations with ‘racially pure’ Germans
33
Q

Women & the Domestic Lives in NG

Explain the continuity of female stereotypes in NG

A
  • Seen as fundamentally important to a “racially pure” Volksgemeinschaft (“people’s community”),
  • They were expected to devote themselves to the stereotype of Kinder, Küche, Kirche (Children, Kitchen, Church),
  • to fulfil their valuable role as mothers to contribute to society
34
Q

Women, Employment & Economic life during WW2 (1939-45)

Describe a change in services which allowed more women to work in WW2

A
  • More childcare was provided during the war to encourage women to work through the NSV,
  • which had 31,000 kindergartens and crèches by the end of 1942.
35
Q

Women, Employment & Economic life during WW2 (1939-45)

Describe a change in women’s role in the army

A

By 1944, the shortage of men was so severe that women were being trained to operate anti-aircraft guns
and were sent to work in signal stations close to the front.

36
Q

Women, Employment & Economic life during WW2 (1939-45)

Describe a change in women’s role in agriculture

A
  • In 1939, women made up 36.6% of the agricultural workforce,
  • which increased to 65.5% by 1944
37
Q

Women, Employment & Economic life during WW2 (1939-45)

Descibe a smaller change in the capacity of the German women’s workforce

A
  • Even though the total number of women in Germany’s workforce increased between 1933 and 1939,
  • it only increased 2% during the war.
38
Q

Women, Employment & Economic life during WW2 (1939-45)

Why might there have been a smaller change in the capacity of the German women’s workforce

A
  • One reason was that Germany used ‘foreign labour’ from conquered territories to help the war effort.
39
Q

Women, Employment & Economic life during WW2 (1939-45)

How did the role of women in the army significantly change in 1940

A
  • From October 1940, women were allowed to join the armed forces in women’s auxiliary services
40
Q

Women, Employment & Economic life during WW2 (1939-45)

How did the role of women in the army significantly change in 1941

A
  • By 1941, there were not enough women in the auxiliary services and the Nazis introduced compulsory military service for women aged 18 to 40 years
41
Q

Women, Employment & Economic life during WW2 (1939-45)

Describe the change in the view of married owmen workin

A
  • The war pressured production and employment as more men were conscripted into the armed forces,
  • so Women were urged to join war work, even if they were married
42
Q

Women, Employment & Economic life during WW2 (1939-45)

Describe how Nazis changed their policy towards working women

A
  • The Nazi Party were forced to modify their policy towards women.
  • From January 1943, all women aged between 17 and 45 years were required to register to work.
43
Q

Women, Employment & Economic Life in NG (1933-39)

Describe a continuity in the work life of middle class women

A

Middle-class women could afford to choose not to work

44
Q

Women, Employment & Economic Life in NG (1933-39)

Describe a change in the work life of middle class women

A
  • The Nazis provided loans to married women to encourage them to give up their jobs.
  • By 1934, 360,000 women had left their jobs in order to get married
  • and therefore take advantage of this loan
45
Q

Women, Employment & Economic Life in NG (1933-39)

Describe a continuity in the amount of women employed

A
  • Women were still an active part of the labour force
  • By 1939, over 50% of German women between the ages of 15 and 60 were in regular employment
  • (this was in contrast to 45% in Britain and 25% in America)
46
Q

Women, Employment & Economic Life in NG (1933-39)

Describe a change in womens employment in medicine

A
  • A shortage of doctors meant that more women went to medical school.
  • Between 1933 and 1944, the percentage of female doctors rose from 6.5% to 17%.
47
Q

Women, Employment & Economic Life in NG (1933-39)

Describe a change in employment for middle class women in NG

A
  • Immediately after Hitler came to power, restrictions in female employment hit a small number of educated middle class women.
  • Initially, many female doctors and civil servants were sacked,
  • this was followed by female teachers and lawyers.
48
Q

Women, Employment & Economic Life in NG (1933-39)

Describe a major change with women attending university

A
  • The Nazis aimed to reduce numbers of women attending university to one in ten (from one in five in 1933)
  • The enrolment of women to university was capped at 10%
49
Q

Women, Employment & Economic Life in NG (1933-39)

Describe a continuity in the wages of female workers in NG

A
  • In 1933, an unskilled woman earned 70% of an unskilled man’s wage.
  • By 1939, this had fallen to 66%, showing their contrubutions to the workforce were valued even less than in Weimar
50
Q

Women, Employment & Economic Life in NG (1933-39)

Describe a change which exploited women’s reproductive needs concerning wages & employment

A
  • In some industries, women’s wages were made equal to men’s.
  • However, this was done in order to persuade employers to hire men instead of women,
  • particularly in industries that might prove harmful to women’s reproductive health.
51
Q

Women, Employment & Economic Life in NG (1933-39)

Desribe a change in the capacity of the female workforce

A
  • As the German workforce expanded, an additional 1.5 million women had entered work by 1939 (a rise of 27%)