Women in German society, 1930-1940

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to describe and discuss some aspects of the status of, and opportunities for, women in Germany in the years between the impact on Germany of the world economic crisis, which followed on the Wall Street crash in October 1929, and the early years of the Second World War, when the German army was still victorious and the Nazi regime was attempting to wage war with only a partial war economy. The significance of the year 1933, with the Nazi takeover of power, in this decade is inescapable; but it is increasingly clear that many of the political, economic and social policies pursued by the Nazis when in Government were pre -figured in developments conceived and even set in train in the last years of the Weimar Republic, often as a direct result of the depression and its effects. The most serious of these, the massive unemployment in Germany in the early 1930s, did much to condition attitudes to the position of women, particularly with regard to their employment - in manual and professional occupations alike - outside the home. Nazi ideology indeed affected policies concerning women, but it was conveniently in tune with the needs and the mood of the time; thus, for a short time Nazi ideology seemed to have practical application, in providing justification for the provision of jobs for men at the expense of women. This situation rapidly changed, as full employment was achieved, and a shortage of labour became Germany's problem in the later 1930s, particularly once war broke out in September 1939. Then, a conflict developed between the Party ideologues and the men in charge of day-to-day Government, a conflict which was resolved in favour of the former in 1941, no doubt partly because women were reluctant to provide the labour which was badly needed.The depression, Nazi ideology, and the build -up to a partial war economy affected policies towards women not only in employment of all kinds but also in the realm of higher education. The broad categories into which this work falls therefore include higher education and senior schooling, as well as employment outside the home and, particularly, the professions. Since attitudes in these areas were partly conditioned by, and partly conditioned, attitudes towards the position of women in the family, particularly as child - bearers, some discussion of marriage and morals is included. The part played by the women's organisations in the Imperial and Republican periods necessitates some brief discussion of them, while the Nazis' attempt to organise German women - with a marked lack of success - must also be considered. Naturally, many omissions remain; this work cannot claim to be a comprehensive social history of women in the 1930s.The points which are of most general interest here are the continuity of policy from about 1930 to 1935/36, in spite of - or perhaps because of - the assumption of power by the Nazis, the failure of the Nazis to institute a fully totalitarian regime largely because of their dependence on positive support from the people, and the conflict between Party and State. With regard particularly to women, it is clear that while equality of rights and equality of opportunity were not achieved in the Weimar years, enough progress was made in securing a place for women in employment generally, in the professions and in higher education, for attempts at discrimination against them - before as well as after 1933 - to fail to have significant effect. The net result of the 1930s was, in fact, to consolidate their position in these areas, once the Nazis' immediate political and foreign ambitions necessitated an increase in personnel in them in the later 1930s. This was in spite of the Nazis' overwhelming obsession with the birth rate, which led at first to attempts to remove women from activity outside the home, and then to preoccupation with providing for the welfare of employed women. Connected with this, the 1930s also witnessed a reversal of the postwar tendency to underestimate the contribution to the life of the nation of the full -time housewife and mother. For "Aryan ", "politically reliable" German women, then, the Nazi regime brought some benefit, and the disadvantages experienced by women were very often those which men, too, suffered. But benefit and disadvantage alike were conditioned not by the needs or desires of individual Germans or of groups of Germans; the needs of the State, as interpreted by the Nazi Party, and particularly by Hitler, had primacy in every area of policy.