To What Extent Were Women Victims of National Socialism - Essay Example

To What Extent Were Women Victims of National Socialism Introduction: The rise of National Socialist (Nazi) Party from 1933 to 1945 served as one of the most distinguished events of not only German history, but also in the history of the world at large. The era not only remembered as remarkable one in respect of the tremendous achievements the country made in the military, social and economic spheres, but also witnessed marvellous expansion of the boundaries of the country in an unabated way. However, the era is stilled recalled by many as one of the darkest rules because of the destruction and turmoil the country underwent because of the political strategies devised and implemented by its leader Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) at the end of the reign. The era is also criticised and condemned for confining the role of the women from social, economic and corporate fields to the four walls of their houses, where they were meant to conceive the children of this superior German race, and to serve and soothe their husbands on their return from the jobs and battlefields as well. Kolingsky (1993) submits to state that the woman under the Nazi Germany had been assigned the only task of sustaining and maintaining their beauty in order to attract their husbands or lovers for conceiving children. It was not a novel thing for the females, as “the female bird preens herself for the male, and hatches the egg for him. In return, the male provides the food.” Before embarking upon the topic under analysis, it would be advisable to look into the history of inclusion and exclusion of women in professional activities outside their homes. German Women 1871—1933: The disintegrated Prussian states had launched a long and dedicated struggle in order to turn the dream of united Germany into reality. They had to win three successive battles against Denmark, Austria-Hungary and France in 1864, 1866 and 1871 respectively in order to accomplish the arduous unification process of the shattered Prussian states under one banner and in one unit. German Iron-Chancellor Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) was determined to make his country as the leader of the world in all aspects. Consequently, he assured the active participation of men and women in various occupations. Bismarck had played the decisive role in the upsurge of the German nation, and Kaiser Wilhelm II turned the country into a tremendous military and economic giant of the entire region for the future years to come. He did not confine the flow of progress to men only; on the contrary, he invited women folk too to step forwards and render their valuable contributions to their nation on the basis of their educational qualifications, experiences and skills. As a result, women started working shoulder to shoulder with the male folk in health, education and nursing sectors, and even military services of the country too. The imperial Germany, under the Reichstag, promoted active female role as teachers, nurses, soldiers and political activists (Mahajan, 2002). Although the courageous and dauntless political and strategic policies devised by the then German leadership during 1871 to 1914 turned the country into a marvellous state of Europe, and invited and included all strata of society, including men, women, young and old into nation-building programmes, yet the entire developments made by the political leadership in order to make Germany as unchallenged created rivalries against the constantly rising economy. However, rapid industrialisation also invited high crime rate, urbanisation and prostitution etc in its wake. The disquiet caused by these factors was simultaneously exacerbated in Germany by the increasingly vociferous demands of the German women’s movement which emerged most strongly at the turn of the century. (Rowe, 1995) Thus, not only the leadership promoted the women in choosing the professions of their own choice, but also women also launched movements to obtain more freedom and liberty to ensure their effective mobilisation and penetration in society. However, before they could launch an effective movement, the WWI covered the horizon of developments being introduced in Germany by the beginning of 20th century. Well beyond the circles that nurtured ‘official militarism’, images of battles, armies, enemies, victories, and treachery populated German political discourse, to the point that the idea of ‘militarism as political culture’ does not seem like an exaggeration (Chickering, 2005). As a result, the rivalry in Europe led Germany at the verge of war and destruction out of the unabated sentiments of nationalism and patriotism, which observed a serious setback at the eve of the signing of notorious Versailles Treaty in 1919 in the aftermath of WWI. Germany Political Scenario 1919-1933: The Versailles Treaty had been drafted at the corpse of the prestige and honour of the German self-esteem, which subsequently gave birth to extremism, revenge and nationalist socialism in the same manner as phoenix rises out of the ashes and remains. It was the era when the vanquished Germany was head over ears under the heavy foreign debt; and death, destruction and defoliation had raised their awkward appearances making the entire environment drab, dull, dark and dismal. At such a precarious state of affairs, one person rose to the occasion in order to unite the entire nation under one banner and to infuse the spark and passion of nationalism, patriotism and politico-strategic domination of the German race all over the globe. He not only freed his nation from the obnoxious clutches of fall, humiliation and dismay, but also communicated to the entire world that the Germans could rule the world by making astonishing achievements under heavy burdens of foreign debts, shackles of strategic banishments and the restrictions imposed upon the vanquished Germany in respect of opening the military colleges on the one hand, and for recruiting and maintaining the armed forces for the defence of the country. Germany 1933-1945: The patriotic sentiments and the urge for making Germany unparalleled power encouraged the women folk too to take active part in all walks of life; somehow, the NAZI leadership confined them to the four walls of home, so that they could produce maximum possible children in order to compensate the heavy life losses Germany had undergone during WWI. Additionally, since Hitler considered German race as the most superior one in comparison to all other breeds of the world, he intended to multiply the race that could be deployed in the battlefield on the one hand, and could be employed in social, economic and corporate sectors on the other. It is therefore, he discouraged German women to work as professionals in various fields of life, and laid stress upon their role in the reproduction activities for the population growth of the nation at large. His address to the ladies wing of his party was also the part of the same campaign he aimed to launch for keeping women away from corporate, social and political sectors. In his address to Socialist Women’s Section, called Frauenschaft, he vehemently segregated the duties and obligations to be performed by men and women, where the former had to render services in military, political and social sectors, while latter had their duties to husbands, children and domestic affairs. Hitler looked for assuring the fecundity of healthy German parents belonging to Aryan race on the one hand, and in restricting the reproduction of non-Aryan inferior races in order to stop the growth of non-German individuals in the country. (Pine, 1997) Thus, on the one side, he reiterated the German race to multiply and grow, and on the other side, imposed punishments, restrictions and other cruelties upon the non-German communities in order to maximise their annihilation process swiftly. Since women found their way in the private domestic sphere, they had established their engagements at home. Thus, they not only collected little information about the obligations assigned to the German males, but also they displayed least concern with the chores their husbands had been indulged into. As a result, their role as professionals was reduced to almost nothing during 1933-1945, due to the very reality that the head of NAZI government Adolf Hitler found the task of women in reproduction activities and household affairs only. Hitler maintained strong belief in the segregation of genders and their deployment in the specific tasks and obligations. It is therefore, he, in his address to the Socialist women in 1934, argued that woman possessed exactly what nature had necessarily given her to administer and preserve; just as the man in his good times had no need to fear that he would be ousted from his position in relation to the woman. (1934) Hitler declared the segregation as the outcome of divine law, where God had, according to him, assigned different duties to humans, on the basis of their gender. (Exeter, 2000) Being a stark nationalist as well as a dedicated socialist, Hitler was determined to see Germany as the greatest nation of the world at large in all spheres of individual and collective life. On the one side, he devoted his life for the military and financial uplift of German speaking regions, and on the other side, he introduced the social policies for the population increase and improvement of the infrastructure of the country. The Nazi government laid stress upon the education and military training of both the sexes. Somehow, he did not allow intellectualism in his country; it was particularly the case with women folk, which was to obtain education in order to train and socialise the future German generation. (Pine, 1999) As a devout socialist, and the true follower of Marxism, Hitler abhorred the exploitation of the proletariat or haves-not at the hands of the elite stratum or haves. It is therefore Hitler persecuted the Jews as he had found their involvement into exploitation of the poor strata on the one hand, and lobbying against their own nation n the other. The Jews had developed political and economic lobbies during early years of 20th century, which had made Hitler reactionary and vindictive towards the Jews, and he started expelling them from Germany. (Muggeridge, 1997) Hitler wanted to set Germany free from the awkward clutches of external influences. He also wanted to see male stratum free from the influences of the female commandments. Since women were emotional and sentimental in many ways, he sought the elimination of any political role to be played by them at any cost. Consequently, he looked for getting them engaged in reproductive activities, so that men could be engaged in battlefields, where they could display gallant deed for the German domination all over the globe. Hitler enthusiastically fought for the cause of German resurgence, at both internal and external fronts. He left not stone unturned to get back the Rhineland province from France for the financial prosperity of his nation. He also established a strong military and naval and air forces as well in order to counter the war preparations secretly being made by British leadership. However, he required manpower for the adequate implementation of his strategic and nationalist policies and schemes. It is therefore he instructed the women to stay at home and conceive children to ensure the population increase in its aftermath. Hitler was so enthusiastic in respect of carrying out the multiplicity of the German race that his government had announced 1000 Deutsche Marks (DM) for the newly wed couples as the token of encouragement and gratitude for complying with the state policy of generating manpower by reproducing the German children. (Stephenson, 1981) In addition, the state also used to announce benefits to the newly born children in order to provide financial assistance to the recently-become parents. The Holocaust Encyclopaedia (2011) observes that the Third Reich encouraged matrimony through marriage loans, dispensed family income supplements for each new child, publicly honoured child-rich families, bestowed the Cross of Honour of the German Mother on women bearing four or more babies, and increased punishments for abortion. Thus, Hitler promoted the Christian doctrine of matrimony and family life, and seriously discouraged futile sexual union particularly homosexuality. However, he not only backed up reproduction through marriage and matrimony, but also allowed extra marital relationships, so that maximum proportion of women could conceive the children. Consequently, special homes were established for keeping of the unmarried mothers in order to granting the unmarried women permission of entering into sexual union with the men of their preference even, and become pregnant. It was particularly the case with the ‘racially pure’ members of the Nazi Party. The Nazi reign viewed sexual inhibition as natural and inevitable one, which should be satisfied properly by sexual union between men and women. Sexual inhibition was the basis of the familial encapsulation of the individual as well as the basis of individual self-consciousness, according to Hitler. (Reich, 1980) Hitler was staunch enemy of homosexuality, which was a shameful curse in his eyes. He also viewed gays as sinful deviants, which were violating the noble teachings of religion and norms. It is therefore he persecuted the gays, along with the Jews and non-German races, as they were sure hurdles on his expansion strategies. The Nazi government forcefully implemented the Paragraph 175 of German Code 1871, which manifestly stated that individuals involved into any type of unnatural offences (would) be imprisoned, as well as might lose the civil rights. Hence, Hitler displayed extreme abhorrence for homosexuality, as it was a futile and useless pursuit in his eyes. However, some of the theorists refute the very idea that homosexuals were persecuted by Hitler only. On the contrary, the same displeasure had also been in vogue in the United States, where the organisation Ku Klux Klan (KKK) had already been demanding the severest punishments to be inflicted upon the gays by burning them alive or castrated. However, no one can deny the fact that the homosexuals were tortured and gassed in the Nazi concentration camps. (Sheldon, 2003) Thus, Hitler inflicted harsh punishments on the homosexuals because of their indulgence in the activity that could not multiply the German race in its wake. Since Nazi Party had established its women wing, where the women were brainwashed in order to spread the very policy of the nationalist socialism while entering into communication with other members of society, the manifesto got popularity in the masses, and the people viewed Hitler to be justified in his claim of declaring the Germans as superlative racial group of the world. Hence, it is aptly stated that a large majority of women folk endorsed the Nazi schemes related to marriage and family. Somehow, Stephenson (1981) turns down any possibility regarding the validity of the false notion that women had sighs of relief on finding them free from hard work they had to carry out while executing their services as at jobs and work places. On the contrary, the German women were peculiarly resistant to the National Socialism, and declared the Party as the persecutor of German females and their liberty as well. (18) To conclude, it becomes evident that the National Socialist Party of Germany had victimised the women folk by confining their activities to their residences, where they would cook, bake, wash and cleanse their homes, and would allure their husbands and lovers in order to conceive children and brought them up in an adequate manner. Rupp (1977) argues that the Hitler’s well-known opposition to the political participation of women and his low estimation of women's abilities on the concept of sexual polarity was actually the outcome of the existence of separate spheres for the two sexes. He contained unnecessary fears and perils regarding the inclusion of females within political and socioeconomic purview, which drifted large number of population in devising and revising policies that could be supportive and beneficial for the country in general. Hence, his prejudiced behaviour deprived him of the support from the women, which certainly made over half of the then German population. It is therefore, the history is stuffed with the comments that vehemently censure the Nazis for victimising the women by challenging and confronting their talents and skills. Works Cited Chickering, Roger “Militarism and Radical Nationalism” 2005 196-218 Web < http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/13/9780199204878.pdf> Muggeridge, Malcolm. “The Thirties in Great Britain” Orion Publishing Group 1997 107-193 Pine, Lisa. “Nazi Family Policy 1933-1945” Oxford International Publishers 1999 13-271 Reich, Wilhelm. “The Mass Psychology of Fascism” Farrar, Straus and Giroux 1980 45-73 Rowe, Dorothy “Desiring Berlin: Gender and modernity in Weimar Germany” In Marsha Meskimmon and Shearer West (eds.), Visions of the “Neue Frau:” Women and the Visual Arts in Weimar Germany Menston, England: Scholar Press 1995 143-164. Web Sheldon, Rev Louis P. “Homosexual Propaganda Campaign Based on Hitler's ‘Big Lie’ Technique.” Traditional Values 2003 Volume 18 No. 10 7 (202) 547-8570 Web Stephenson, Jill. “The Nazi Organisation of Women” Croom Helm Publishers 1981 Holocaust Encyclopaedia “Women in the Third Reich” 2011 Web < http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005205> Read More