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Answers
Answer:
From the years 1933 to 1945, Germany was ruled by a harsh totalitarian regime, led by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Promises of prosperity and a bright future delighted the bankrupt nation, still angry and bitter over its World War I losses. However, Hitler’s plans for success were far more sinister than anyone had imagined; the Nazi party desired control over all aspects of life in an attempt to create social purity. Racial hygiene became a “cornerstone of state policy…with the introduction of legislation designed to improve not only the quantity but also the quality of the German population” (Pine 11). This meant exterminating anyone whom the Party deemed inferior: Jews, Gypsies, the mentally and physically disabled, homosexuals, and other minorities. Hitler sought a superior Aryan race, with the development of strong characteristics beginning at birth. To enhance those deemed suitable, the Nazi party emphasized the family and gave instructions as to how to raise fit children. They also instituted several programs aimed at mothers and gave incentives for having as many children as possible. The Nazi party created political programs and initiatives that molded women into their ideal mother archetype, to achieve their quest of attaining a pure Aryan race in Germany.
One of the Nazis’ first tasks was to encourage families to produce as many children as possible. With a greater population, Nazi Germany could flourish as a strong and pure nation. In the time before Hitler took power, the Weimar era, the birth rate was steadily dropping “from 36 births per thousand inhabitants in 1901 to 14.7 births per thousand inhabitants in 1933” (Pine 10). To change this, the Nazis encouraged motherhood through propaganda to sway public opinion. Mothers were esteemed as heroes, and this idea was instilled in children through books and radio programs. One story portrayed a mother’s many tasks when taking care of her children; though her work is difficult at times, she is happy because she is serving her nation. A children’s play also centered on that same idea, but when the children want to give their mother a break, she claims that she does not want to be relieved of her duties because it proves her patriotism (Pine 64-65). Children’s textbooks also included illustrations of perfect families, with both parents present and as many as ten to twelve children around them. With this propaganda, Nazis hoped to instill their prenatal ideology in children at early ages.
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