| Back | Sought to completely reverse the advancements in women's rights that were made during the Weimar Republic. Propaganda and official policy initially forced women into a prescribed domestic role of wife and mother to produce Aryan children. Defined women's lives around the "three Ks"- Kinder, Küche, Kirche (children, kitchen, church). Later, economic demands of rearmament and the war effort required the regime to mobilize women into the workforce.Policies affecting German women:Systematically dismantled women's rights in Germany and enforced a conservative, patriarchal ideology that confined women to the roles of wives and mothers for the benefit of the state. Policies were designed to increase the "Aryan" birth rate and remove women from public life, though these policies were reversed during the war to fill labor shortages.Laws on marriage and family:Law for the Encouragement of Marriage (1933): This law provided newly married couples with an interest-free loan of 1,000 Reichmarks. Women could only receive the loan if they left their jobs. One-quarter of the loan was forgiven for every child the couple had. The loan would be paid in full after the birth of the fourth child.Marriage Health Law (1935): To enforce racial purity. Required couples to undergo a medical examination to prove their "fitness to marry". Tool for preventing marriages with and between people considered racially or genetically "unsuitable".Lebensborn Program (1935): Led by SS leader Heinrich Himmler, this state-sponsored program encouraged racially "pure" single women to bear children for "Aryan" SS men. The program set up maternity homes for these women to give birth in secret. 1938 Divorce Laws: Grounds for divorce were extended to enable a man to divorce his wife if she was unable or unwilling to have children, ensuring he could remarry to have more "Aryan" offspring.Mother's Cross (1938): Award to honor mothers of large families. The bronze medal for 4-5 children, silver for 6-7, and gold for 8+. Hitler Youth members were instructed to salute women who wore the gold cross in public.Laws on employment and education:Dismissal from public life (1933–1936): Nazis immediately began removing women from positions of influence. Legislation like the 1933 Law for the Reduction of Unemployment gave financial incentives for women to stay home. Women were banned from professional posts in the civil service, medical field, and judiciary.University enrollment limits (1933): Number of women who could enroll in universities limited to 10%"Duty Year" (Pflichtjahr) (1938): As the economy grew and rearmament began, the Nazis faced labor shortages. Unmarried women under 25 were required to work for one year in domestic service or agriculture.Compulsory labor service (1939): With the outbreak of World War II, the Nazi regime reversed its earlier policies and made labor service compulsory for all single women to support the war effort. By 1945, half a million women served as military auxiliaries (Wehrmachtshelferinnen) in non-combat roles, such as clerical and communication work.Concentration camp guards: Thousands of women volunteered for the SS-affiliated guard system, serving as Aufseherinnen in concentration camps. Many were noted for their brutality. Laws affecting reproductive rights and personal liberty:Abortion laws: Abortion was prohibited and severely punished for "Aryan" women. In 1943, the death penalty was enacted for mothers convicted of infanticide. By contrast, in 1938, abortions were made legal for Jewish women.Sterilization and euthanasia: Women deemed "undesirable," including those with disabilities, mental illness, or belonging to minority groups like Jewish or Roma women, were subject to forced sterilization and murdered in euthanasia programs. Appearance and behavior codes: Pressured through propaganda and regulations to conform to a conservative image. Expected to wear traditional peasant-style dresses, have their hair in plaits or buns, and avoid makeup, trousers, or smoking in public.Racial defilement laws: Harsh policies toward women who had sexual relationships with non-Germans. Women convicted of Rassenschande("racial defilement") with foreign workers or prisoners of war were publicly humiliated by having their heads shaved and being paraded through the streets. Some were sent to concentration camps.Persecution in concentration camps: Women who opposed the regime or were targeted for persecution—including political opponents, Jews, and other minorities—were sent to concentration camps. The Ravensbrück camp was specifically designed for female prisoners. Persecution and resistance:Some women supported the Nazi regime, others were persecuted or actively resisted. Persecution: Jewish women, Roma women, and others were systematically persecuted and murdered in concentration camps and ghettos.Resistance: Many women bravely resisted the regime, often benefiting from gender stereotypes that made them less conspicuous. Their efforts ranged from non-violent actions to armed combat.White Rose: Student Sophie Scholl of the White Rose movement was executed for distributing anti-Nazi leaflets.Armed resistance: Jewish women like Haika Grosman led resistance efforts in ghettos. Others joined partisan units.Concentration camp sabotage: Jewish women in Auschwitz stole gunpowder for a crematorium uprising in 1944.Protests: In the 1943 Rosenstrasse Protest, "Aryan" women married to Jewish men protested in Berlin until their husbands were released. After World War II:In the aftermath of the war, German women faced enormous challenges."Rubble women": Many women, known as Trümmerfrauen, participated in the physical clearing and rebuilding of bombed German cities.Sexual assault: In the Soviet occupation zone, millions of German women were subjected to rape by soldiers. Many experienced lasting trauma from this and other wartime experiences.Silence: For many years after the war, the unique experiences of women during the Nazi era were largely overlooked or overshadowed by the broader narrative of collective male guilt. |