Download Female Youth Impact on Nazi Germany

Female Youth Impact on Nazi Germany
Author : Derek Baer
German Women, The Real Soldiers of Freedom
Wars were generally led by men, but one of the essential parts of a war is the people supporting it.
Throughout history women have demonstrated their importance as supporters, or adversaries of
national events. Although in the early 20th century all of Germany appeared to be of fault for the
Second World War, to the contrary many citizens in Germany did not align with the Nazis. The
college age women of Germany largely apposed the Nazi regime and assisted in the accelerated
downfall of the Nazis by being non-compliant with the laws, soldiers, war efforts, and participating
in resistance groups.
The day the Nazis seized power in Germany is known as the Machtergreifung. Before the world
witnessed the barbaric genocide committed by Hitler, the Nazis formed initially as the National
Socialist Workers Party abbreviated as NSDAP. The first country the Nazis invaded is often
overlooked because it was Germany itself. At the start of the Nazi regime, their ideology stated
German women were the “mothers of the race” and had a “proper task of
producing children”.1 Before the 1930s the birthrate was low enough to create a fear in the NSDAP
for the German race. During the 1930s the birthrate in Germany increased, because of the new
political goals has not been confirmed. Anti-abortion campaigns outlawed abortions in hopes to
increase birthrates and while the birthrate increased, this campaign placed women not as mothers,
but as women expected to be mothers.2 The “ideal Nazi woman owed service to the state above all
else”.3 Around the world this was seen as “a state in which women are obliged to undertake the
duty of motherhood without the honor which, in every other country of the earth, accompanies that
duty”.4 After birthrates rose policies shifted towards women in the work force. Originally told that a
woman’s place was in her home, the call for women to spend their entire day at the factory was
not an impressive mobilization. Many women of Germany were not the ideal Nazi woman.
According to a Princeton University chart “Germany’s female labour force increased by only 1 per
cent from 1939 to 1944.”5 The call for women to join the work force was met with dissatisfaction
and many refused to join the labor force leading to several arrests to set as “examples”. German
women were “not used to being ordered about “like slaves.”6 This resistance helped prevent the
Nazi military from receiving local aid and support it desperately needed.
Germany was fractionated by many different minorities with sometimes largely apposing goals. The
main factions were the “Poles, Danes, and Lithuanians.”7 Of the minorities the largest was the
Polish who made up a large portion of industrial workers and farmers. Many middle and upper
class Germans considered themselves to be the Aryan race, or superior race, while the Poles were
considered “members of an “inferior” culture.”8 Another minority was the Jewish people. Most
Jewish people in Germany spoke no language other than German and were still targeted due to
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their religious difference. Jews in Germany preferred the liberal side of politics which had become
under political attack by the German Empire in the late 19th century.9 The Aryans believed the Jews
were trying to “subvert the German family and thus destroy the German race.”1 The issue the Nazis
overlooked was German citizens were married to Jewish citizens. In February 1943, the Nazis in
Berlin imprisoned 2,000 intermarried Jewish men. “Their German wives heard they were detained
in a building on Rosenstrasse, a street in the city’s heart”. The group of women filled the streets
for over a week to chant and protest against the Nazis imprisonment of their husbands. “The Nazis
let the men go home to their wives and families after eight straight days of protest”. For these
women “to save 2,000 Jews in the center if Hitler’s empire”10 was no small feat. Although Germany
came under Nazi control, the influence of women in society created a lasting impact for many
people.
When the Nazis started coming to power the education system was placed under new rule. The
administration of scholarships was “taken over by the Nazis shortly after the Machtergreifung and
duly embarked on a strikingly misogynic policy.”11 New policies reduced the attendance of women
at Universities, but did not stop women from pursuing higher education. In the mid-1930s the Nazi
regime discovered female students would continue to attend school while under these restrictive
policies. The Nazis decided to change their methods. The Nazis initially desired fewer women in
universities due to the drop in the number of men at universities. The reputation men received for
attending a University fell short compared to positions in the military which led to a decline in the
male attendance at schools of higher levels of education. While more women were needed to fill
roles that required higher education, the policies they stood with was not the same as the Nazis.
The group that stood with Nazi socialism was the Working Community of National Socialist Women
Students, or ANSt. Even though there were students aligned with National Socialism “Only a tiny
proportion of Germany’s female students proved susceptible to Nazi proselytizing, for by
September 1, 1932, on the eve of the Machtergreifung, the ANSt, by its own admission, counted no
more than 704 followers among nearly 19,000 female university students.”12 During this time
women were increasingly able to attend Universities while men were drafted to war. This was not a
problem for women, but a problem for the Nazi war effort. While the men left their jobs the labor
force inside Germany dwindled. Leaders in the Nazi party were at ends with one other on which
action to take to increase the labor force. The leaders settled on a policy that required only women
from universities to replace the men’s jobs. Nearly all the female students were opposed. These
students found it was possible to excuse oneself from this draft “if they could present a certificate
of poor health or physical disability signed by a physician of the Student Aid Foundation… or if they
could demonstrate that they had final examinations.”13 The action to remove women was unpopular
to the point the students at “Frankfurt University, 136 out of a total 343 women students – nearly
40 percent – were in effect freed from participation.” The large opposition to forced labor was
countered with a “special exemption fee” that the female students were required to pay. Many
students found creative ways out of attending, including changing mailing address, dropping school
for a semester, paying the exemption fee, or simply not attending. During a war, an army requires
large support from other parts of its society and by not participating the support the Nazi army
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received was limited.14 With such a splintered society women were able to advance their education
and positions in society by doing so.
Even with many women attending universities the patriarchal system was widely practiced in
Germany. Many of the women that worked at home supported the beliefs of their partner or head of
house. The National Socialism that the Nazi regime embodied “brought a sweet sense of
belonging to an intimate in-group made up of comrades of the same blood and the same
belief.”15 This sense of belonging was very strong in German society and women more often turned
towards groups that favored the Nazi regime. The regime was able to “cast itself in the role of
responsible guardian of the national interest,” and received further public support from the German
people.16
Nazi propaganda was immensely influential in its rhetoric. Propaganda messages called for the
people to unite and defend the German race. While many celebrated the military victories that
Hitler brought, a few influential individuals were galvanized into action. The student leaders of the
White Rose resistance group in Munich, Germany were appalled by the genocide of Jews in
Eastern Europe. The actions of the White Rose were “primarily a ‘Christian’ and ‘moral’ protest
rather than one with a clear political agenda.”17 The students decided on spreading their views by
leaflets rather than a violent form of resistance that would have cost lives. As the war waged in
Europe the group continued to write leaflets by mail in hopes of making an impact. After the Nazi
military lost in Stalingrad the regime was eager to raise morale. Unfortunately for the White Rose's
anti – Nazi movement was enough to bring it into investigation. Sophie Scholl and her friends were
arrested. “For high treason and aiding and abetting the enemy… the court [had] sentenced [Sophie]
to death by guillotine.”18 While more than 16,000 people were executed by the guillotine the other
less used method of execution was hanging. Hanging was considered “less dignified” and was
“reserved in the Nazi era for members of the resistance, mostly communists, Jews and foreign
workers.”19 On February 22, 1943 the three students were executed. In the time since the White
Rose has fallen, Sophie Scholl became close to legend. “‘The basis of White Rose philosophy is
freedom of the individual. They were visionaries. They showed what Germans should have done in
Hitler’s time.’”20 Although many did not join the White Rose, the difference made during and
especially after their operations made important changes for freedom of women and all peoples.
Over the course of Hitler’s regime, the world came to know the worst of Germany. Witnesses to
the Nazi’s military barbarity have said “The Germans have become a nation of sleepwalkers who
commit acts of hatred with words of love, who talk of peace and move toward war.”21 What can be
failed to notice is the good. The good of society that was resisting Nazism was embodied by the
female youth of Germany. The methods used by Nazis while controlling Germany faced much
opposition. Women from all aspects of German society worked to make a better life for themselves
by refusing to support Hitler. The German woman would not idly submit as Nazi policies ordered
them around “like slaves”. Wives of Jewish men resisted Nazi policies by protesting for their
husbands to come home. Female students stood their ground by attending school and evading
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forced labor. Many ignored false NSDAP propaganda while the White Rose even produced
propaganda of its own. Behind all movements are women who believe in honorable existence.
Behind the World War was the women’s resistance to the immoral ideology of the National
Socialist Party that became Nazism.
Footnotes
1
Gupta, Charu, "Politics of Gender: Women in Nazi Germany." (Pg. WS-40)
2
Gupta, Charu, "Politics of Gender: Women in Nazi Germany." (Pg. WS-41)
3
Gupta, Charu, "Politics of Gender: Women in Nazi Germany." (Pg. WS-43)
4
MacLeish, "CALLS NAZI WOMEN 'BRIDES OF STATE'"
5
Gupta, Charu, "Politics of Gender: Women in Nazi Germany." (Pg. WS-44)
6
Long, Tania, "Women in Industry Disappoint Hitler."
7
Kosok, Paul, Modern Germany: a Study of Conflicting Loyalties, (Pg. 249)
8
Kosok, Paul, Modern Germany: a Study of Conflicting Loyalties, (Pg. 251)
9
Kosok, Paul, Modern Germany: a Study of Conflicting Loyalties, (Pg. 253)
10
McMillan, Jeff, A Moment of Courage in Hitler's Berlin. (civil Protest in Berlin by Non-Jewish
Wives of Jews). Vol. 43(8). Chronicle of Higher Education, 1996. A9(1).
11
Pauwels, Jacques R. Women, Nazis, and Universities: Female University Students in the Third
Reich, 1933-1945. (Pg. 23)
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12
Pauwels, Jacques R. Women, Nazis, and Universities: Female University Students in the Third
Reich, 1933-1945. (Pg. 55)
13
Pauwels, Jacques R. Women, Nazis, and Universities: Female University Students in the Third
Reich, 1933-1945. (Pg. 121)
14
Pauwels, Jacques R. Women, Nazis, and Universities: Female University Students in the Third
Reich, 1933-1945. (Pg. 123)
15
Kirkpatrick, Clifford, Nazi Germany: Its Women and Family Life. (Pg. 294)
16
Stachura, Peter D, The Nazi Machtergreifung. London: Allen & Unwin, 1983. (Pg. 38)
17
McDonough, Frank, Sophie Scholl: The Real Story of the Woman Who Defied Hitler. (Pg. 164)
18
McDonough, Frank, Sophie Scholl: The Real Story of the Woman Who Defied Hitler. (Pg. 257)
19
McDonough, Frank, Sophie Scholl: The Real Story of the Woman Who Defied Hitler. (Pg. 258)
20
McDonough, Frank, Sophie Scholl: The Real Story of the Woman Who Defied Hitler. (Pg. 265)
21
Kirkpatrick, Clifford, Nazi Germany: Its Women and Family Life. (Pg. 300)
Bibliography
Secondary
Gupta, Charu, "Politics of Gender: Women in Nazi Germany." Economic and Political Weekly, April
27, 1991.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4397988?seq=1#page_thumbnails_tab_contents
Kirkpatrick, Clifford, Nazi Germany: Its Women and Family Life. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1938.
McDonough, Frank, Sophie Scholl: The Real Story of the Woman Who Defied Hitler. Stroud,
Gloucestershire: History Press, 2010.
McMillan, Jeff, A Moment of Courage in Hitler's Berlin. (civil Protest in Berlin by Non-Jewish Wives
of Jews). Vol. 43(8). Chronicle of Higher Education, 1996. A9(1).
http://chronicle.com/article/New-Book-Examines-a-Moment-of/76522
Pauwels, Jacques R. Women, Nazis, and Universities: Female University Students in the Third
Reich, 1933-1945. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1984.
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Primary
Kosok, Paul, Modern Germany: a Study of Conflicting Loyalties, by Paul Kosok,.. Chicago:
University Press, 1933.
Long, Tania, "Women in Industry Disappoint Hitler." The New York Times. March 8, 1943.
ProQuest.
http://search.proquest.com/hnpnewyorktimes/docview/106511078/fulltextPDF/4039FC4419614DB6
PQ/38?accountid=14902
MacLeish, "CALLS NAZI WOMEN 'BRIDES OF STATE'" The New York Times. June 8, 1942.
http://search.proquest.com/hnpnewyorktimes/docview/106407419/fulltextPDF/B75083A7685844B7
PQ/1?accountid=14902
Illustrations
Rosenstrasse:
https://www.google.com/searchq=The+white+rose&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=945&source=lnms&tb
m=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjjre_FnrrJAhVPUYgKHY6hB6cQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=rosenstrass
e&imgrc=n6lGLqoqIYJTLM%3A
Sophie Scholl:
https://www.google.com/search?q=photo+of+female+in+nazi+germany&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=9
45&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiNvbOnrrJAhWGNogKHYiHAI4Q_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=sophie+scholl&imgrc=92yOuFaZc_NdvM%3A
Map of Germany:
http://www.livingtravel.com/europe/germany/mgermany.gif
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