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What Was German Society Like Under the

Nazis?

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The Three K’s

Kinder Kirche Kuche

What role do you think women had in Nazi Germany?

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The Role of Women

For Hitler, a women’s purpose was to extend the German race. Women were taught to be proud of their bodies and to be satisfied with life as a homemaker.

“…every class in school was built around the course called Frauenschaffen, activities of women. This general subject was divided into: Handarbeit (handwork), Hauswirtschaft (domestic science and gardening), and most important, the Pflege course (eugenics and hygiene, devoted to a study of the reproductive organs … conception, birth, racial purity, infant care…) … the Führer wanted the girls to feel that their bodies were more important for the State than their minds…” from Education for Death, G Ziemef, 1942.

How are things different for girls in Britain today?

Here is a quote from a principal of a German girls’ school:

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1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939

Births per 1,000

Marriages per 1,000

‘Lebensborn’ (fountain of life)

Hitler was obsessed with race and a belief that the main function of women was to bear children. The ‘Lebensborn’ programme encouraged German women to bear the children of SS officers, whether they were married or not.

From studying the graph, how successful would you say this policy was?

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The treatment of women

Women also had a role to play in reducing unemployment. Married women doctors and civil servants lost their jobs, and were not allowed to be judges.

Courses in schools changed their emphasis towards cooking and sewing, rather than gaining qualifications to obtain a well-paid job.

“Women have the job of being beautiful and bringing children into the world. Like a female bird she should preen herself for her mate…” Goebbels, 1934.

“The Führer was charming with his ministers’ wives, kissing their hands … but there was no mistaking that he regarded women as decoration…” Ian Kershaw, 2000.

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Divorce

The Nazis claimed to be supporters of the traditional family. Does the graph below support this claim?

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1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939

Divorcesper 10,000existingmarriages

What effect did the following laws have on divorce?1934 – judges granted the right to legal separation on racial grounds.1938 – men were given greater grounds on which they might divorce including immorality, racial incompatibility and refusal to have children.

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The Nazi church

Although Hitler said the church was to be part of every woman’s life, religion didn’t do well under the Nazis.

“On Saturday evening … groups of young men belonging to the SA … began to arrive at the Stephansplatz in parties of five armed with ladders and bludgeons … Once inside they destroyed every religious picture to be seen … smashed the busts of several Popes, stole valuable chalices…” what happened to the Cardinal Innitzer after preaching an anti-Nazi sermon in 1938.

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When Hitler talked about religion, he meant the National Reich Church which was set up in 1936.

“The National Reich Church demands an immediate stop to the printing and sale of the Bible in Germany … On the altars must be nothing but Mein Kampf, and to the left of this a sword.” from the rules of the National Reich Church.

What sort of religion do you think was offered to the people?

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The “Strength Through Joy” programme

The Nazi’s made efforts to ‘tame’ the working class, as these were their largest opposition. They mainly used violence and intimidation; but one carrot was the “Strength Through Joy” programme (KDF) which organized trips to concerts, the theatre, exhibitions, sporting events, folk dancing, education and even holidays.

It was Hitler’s wish “…that the German worker will receive an adequate holiday and that everything will be done to ensure that this holiday and the rest of his free time offer a genuine recovery.” After all, people work better when they are refreshed.

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By 1938 a special KDF office was organizing holidays and travel for approximately 10.3 million Germans. Its aims were:

1) That beneficiaries should be reconciled to the aims of the new regime.

2) That it provided new opportunities to promote national integration.

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Excursions within Germany allowed the German people to get to know the customs of the different regions. A voyage on the famed KDF cruise ships meant Germans from all round the country had a chance to socialize.

Opportunities provided

“Today, a little more than four years after the inception of ‘Strength through Joy’ trips, the East Prussian know that the Bavarians are people just like they are, and that they are engaged in a struggle for existence to the same extent … we are making a valuable contribution to the … unification of the German tribes…” a German delegate, 1938.

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The Strength Through Joy cruise ship, ‘Wilhelm Gustoff’, was touted as a floating icon of the classless society. In fact, its passengers were overwhelmingly from the middle class. These were the people from whom the Nazi’s had drawn the bulk of their support.

What do you think of the Strength Through Joy programme?

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The Nazi holiday camp

One of the Nazi’s most ambitious projects was to develop Prora, a huge holiday resort on the Baltic Island of Rugen. It was one of five planned to be built, but the only one started. It was never finished, due to the war. Work began in May 1936 with 48 construction companies, employing 2000 workers.

What impact do you think this had, both on Nazi popularity and the economy?

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Prora

DenmarkSweden

Rostock

Hamburg

Berlin

FrankfurtMagdeburg

Stettin

Kolberg

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The KDF car plan

The KDF was also involved in a scheme to supply cheap cars to workers after Hitler had ordered that a Volkswagen (People’s Car) be built so that everyone could afford one, and it should look like a ‘beetle’.

The price of a ‘beetle’ was equivalent to 35 weeks’ wages (990 marks). A hire-purchase scheme was started, into which workers paid five marks a week. Once 750 marks were paid, they were given an order number.

By the time of the war, when the factory was turned into a weapons factory, not a single VW had been made for a German customer.

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Read the German joke from 1939. What does it tell you about what Germans felt about this scheme?

“A car worker at the VW factory cannot afford to buy his own car, so he steals the pieces one by one, and takes them all home … When he has all the pieces together, he finds he has built a machine gun carrier.”