G Life in Germany for different groups of people, 1933 - 1939 Flashcards
(42 cards)
Expectations of women in Nazi Germany
Women should adopt the traditional roles of mother and housewife. Hitler, however did not believe that women were somehow less important than men - he described their role as equally important.
Specific laws that were passed / programmes that affected the lives of women…
1933: The law for the encouragement of marriage. This law gave women up to 1,000 marks - about eight month wages - if they got married. It also encouraged women to stay at home and for each child that was born, a quarter of the loan was wiped out. Therefore, four, was seen as the optimal number of children to have.
1938: Change in divorce law. This made it easy for a man to divorce a woman if she was not capable of having children.
The Mother’s Cross: This was an award given to mothers for the number of the children they could have. The bronze cross for four or five, the silver cross for six or seven, the gold cross for eight.
The Lebensborn (fountain of life) programme encouraged women to have children with SS guards in order to create the most genetically pure children possible for worthy German families. Women would recieve money and support in return.
Key person: Gertrud Scholtz-Klink
Reich Women’s Leader from 1934 onwards. She set out to make German women “servants” of the State. She insisted all women’s organisations should join together as the German Women’s Enterprise and through the activities of the group, the Nazi message for women could be easily spread.
The ideal appearance of a woman was…
Women should adopt a natural look and wear long skirts. A perfect hairstyle would be tied back hair or simple plaited hair. A woman should have endeavoured to stay strong so that hips would be strong enough to sustain lots of births. They were discouraged from dyeing their hair or even wearing make-up.
Women were told to focus on what
the three Ks. Kinder, Kuche, Kirche.
Children, kitchen, church.
Women in Employment
- 1933 - Women were banned from professional jobs such as teachers, doctors and civil servants.
- 1934 - By the end of 1934, about 360,000 women had given up work.
- 1936 - No woman could become a judge, lawyer or even do jury service.
- 1937 - Grammar schools for women, which prepared them for university, were banned. The number of female students in higher education was at 6,000 in 1939, compared to 17,000 in 1932.
How did women feel about the Nazi Ideal?
Some women believed that the Nazi ideas actually did make them inferior to men and that the ideas harmed family and even degraded women. Some women did not like Getrud Scholtz-Klink and that she was a slave of the Nazi state that did not represent the true spirit of womanhood.
Expectations of young people in Nazi Germany ( in classroom )
All young Germans should be brought up to be proud of Germany and the Nazi Party.
Boys and girls should be brought to be strong, healthy and fulfilling their gender roles.
How the Nazis controlled the school curriculum
Bernhard Rust was made Education Minister in 1934 and he saw the purpose of education to “make Nazis”. All lessons were designed with this purpose in mind.
How the Nazis controlled teachers
In April 1933, teachers began being sacked. All teachers had to swear loyalty to Hitler and political education courses set out the Nazi ideas, teachers needed to make clear that they supported.
Teachers were then expected to begin and end each lesson with a “Heil Hitler” and to decorate their classrooms with swastikas.
Lessons for boys
Maths (with problem solving based around war scenarios).
Race Studies (with a focus on identifying the aryan race).
History (with a focus on the greatness of Germany and the injustice of the Treaty of Versailles).
lessons for girls
Home economics (with a focus on cooking and cleaning). Race studies (with a focus on how to identify the perfect choice for a husband).
Expectations for young people (outside classroom)
Young people would attend youth groups and camps to demonstrate they were putting their duty to the country ahead of their private pleasures or pursuits. Eventually, attendance was made compulsory.
Organisations for boys
6-10 year olds Pimpfe (Little Fellows)
10-14 year olds Deutsche Jungvolk (German Young People)
14-18 year olds Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth)
Organisations for girls
10-14 year olds Jungmadel (Young Maidens)
14-21 year olds Bund Deutscher Madel BDM (League of German Maidens)
Activities for boys
Character training - swearing oaths of loyalty from the age of 10 onwards.
Military training - map-reading and signalling. Endurance exercise in wintry weather.
Naval, Motor, Gliding and flying divisions of the Hitler youth.
Extra lessons on the heroes of Germany and learning how to report parents and teachers if they were suspected of betraying the Nazis.
Activities for girls
Learning the importance of racial hygiene. The idea that they should keep the German Race pure by only marrying Aryan men.
Girls were trained to cook, iron and make beds.
Athletics to remain strong and ready for motherhood.
The Nazi plan for the German economy
To reduce unemployment to 0%. This was because Hitler saw unemployment as a danger for the Nazis, because it would lead to support for the Communists and also because unemployment was a “waste of resources” for German society. Therefore, people were put to work, not matter what.
What was the put in place for workers
Labour Service (RAD)
RAD provided public workers for repairing roads and draining marshes. From 1935, it was made compulsory for all young men to serve in the RAD for six months. 422,000 were in the RAD in 1935.
It was not popular with people as it was organised like an army. Rates of pay were very low and people complained of poor food and camps. Some men saw the RAD as a service rather than genuine employment.
Autobahn building
This began in 1933. It was an example of one of many public building schemes that were designed to create jobs in the construction industry. Spending on public works went from 18 billion marks in 1933, to 38 billion marks in 1938.
Rearmament
Lots of people were employed in making the army much bigger than it had been before it pretty much destroyed by the Treaty of Versailles. Lots of people were needed to build and create new weapons. Spending on the army was 3.5 billion marks in 1933 and 26 billion in 1939. By 1935, there were 72,000 just employed in the aircraft construction industry.
What happened to employment?
Unemployment went down and wages did increase, but lots of people were not included in the overall fall of unemployment figures, such as women and Jews. This needs to remembered when considering how Hitler dropped unemployment by 4 million after 1933, a huge amount compared to other countries around the world at the time.
‘Reducing’ employment figures - to what real extent?
1) Women and Jews had to give up work. These unemployed are not included in the figures.
2) By the middle of the 1930s there were about half a million ‘unemployed’ people in the labour service which weren’t included in unemployment figures.
3) By 1939, over 1.3 million were in armed forces. In normal peace times they would need normal jobs.
4) Prisons - Hundreds of thousands were put in prisons or concentration camps, making unemployment look lower.
The Nazis and improvements in standard of living as part of changes in the economy - employment
Not everyone counted in the employment figures, for example Jews. Also, not everyone enjoyed their jobs, for example those in the Labour Service.
The Nazis and improvements in standard of living as part of changes in the economy - Wages
In general wages got better, but it was better between 1936 and 1939 than 1933 and 1936. If you worked making weapons, then your wages rose quicker than in the Labour Service.
Prices of items went up so if you were a higher earner you ended up with more money, but lower earners got more money than previously but had to spend more on more expensive food.
The Nazis and improvements in standard of living as part of changes in the economy - hours spent at work
On average, the working week went up from 43 hours in 1933 to 49 hours in 1939.
