what do you know about the policy of Hitler towards youth and women
Answers
What the Nazis wanted from women in their
society was really quite simple – they wanted, and
needed them to produce their ‘master race’ of
perfect German children. Mothers were portrayed
as heroines of the German Nation in Nazi
propaganda, stories and radio programmes and
there were rewards and incentives for women who
had children:
- • The Law for the Encouragement of Marriage in
1933 stated that all couples who married would
get a loan from the government of 1000 marks.
For every child the couple had, 25% of the loan
could be kept by them. This meant that if the
couple had four children, they did not have to
pay back the loan at all!
- • Mother’s crosses were awarded – a bronze cross
for four children, a silver cross for six and a gold
cross for eight.
- • There were Mother’s Schools which ran courses
in looking after the home and bringing up
children.
However, there were other, more negative policies
which were aimed at encouraging women to play
their roles as wives and mothers:
- • From the beginning there were pressures to
exclude women from jobs in teaching, the civil
service, politics, medicine and the law.
- • Young women were discouraged from going to
university. In 1934 it was ruled that the number
of girls entering higher education should be just
10% of the male students.
- Contraception was not allowed and abortion was
illegal for Aryan women
The Nazis hoped that by indoctrinating young
people with Nazi ideas they would eventually
create Germans who were totally in agreement
with Nazi beliefs and aims.
The Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth provided after-school and
weekend activities for 10 to 18 year olds. There
were separate organisations for boys and girls.
The task of the boys section was to prepare the
boys for military service:
• At 10, joined the
German Young People,
until the age of 13
when they transferred
to the Hitler Youth
until the age of 18.
• Activities were dominated by physical rather
than intellectual activities. By 1936, the ‘military
athletics’ course they followed included:
marching, bayonet drill, grenade throwing,
trench digging, map reading, gas defence, use of
dugouts, how to get under barbed wire and pistol
shooting.
• Nazi beliefs about the need to conquer new
territory (especially in Eastern Europe) and take
land from people thought to be inferior played a
key part in the education of boys.
The task of the girls section was to prepare them
for motherhood:
• Girls, at the age of 10, joined the League of Young
Girls and at the age of 14 transferred to the
League of German Girls.
• Activities were again dominated by physical
ones. Girls had to be able to run 60 metres in
14 seconds, throw a ball 12 metres, complete a
2 hour march and swim 100 metres. The rest of
the activities were focused on domestic activities
and looking after children.
• Nazi beliefs about race and the removal of those
thought to be inferior played a large part in girls’
education