Politics of Gender: Women in Nazi Germany

Author(s): Charu Gupta

Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 26, No. 17 (Apr. 27, 1991), pp. WS40-WS48
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
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 Politics of Gender: Women in Nazi Germany
Charu Gupta
With the rise of National Socialism, in whose ideology the degradation and depersonalisation of women was
implicit, the process of women's emancipation in Germany suffered a setback..In addressing the larger question
of whatfascism does to gender this paper deals specifically with the image of women in Nazi ideology and whether
this imagery'underwent a change during the course of the second world war. It examines also the controversy
surrounding the role of women in Hitler's rise to power and the voices of dissent. The paper concludes by drawing
some partial Indian analogues to the portrayal of women in Nazi Germany,particularly the way communal organisa-
tions look at women.

I of Nazis, raceand gender,racismand sexism
are closely connected with each other. The
Introduction issue of motherhoodwent hand in handwith
WITH the coming of National Socialism, compulsory sterilisation and had a close
,the process of female emancipation was bearing to a sort of 'race hygiene' culture.
reversed,her degradationand depersonalisa- It becomes important to study this aspect
tion becamean elementof Germanideology. not only due to the emphasis on the sup-
The desirability of motherhood for all posedly 'natural'or 'biological' domains of
German women became the central issue women but also because here specifically
and family was seen as the germ cell of the traditionalismand anti-feminismcombined
nation, class or volk. The lack of a com- effectively with racism.
peting conceptual framework also con- The obsession with motherhood comes
tributed to the middle class's vulnerability out clearly in Nazi writings. Just as men
to Nazi family ideology. As is stated: "The servedthe state by fighting,so womenserved
petit bourgeois is asocial: the fellow human by bearingchildren.The theme of childbirth
to him is human material, usable subject as an analogue to battle was a popular one
matter which may be maniptilated.. . His in Nazi ideology "Everychild that a woman
.girl as his beloved is sexual animal, as brings into the world is a battle, a battle
German woman she is a mechanical womb; waged for the existenceof her people"'4But
enthroned as heroic patriarch, the man Nazi leaders were aware that the exclusive
towers over the family." function of childbearingdemeaned women
With communalismand fundamentalism in the eyes of some critics. Thus Hitler felt
'in Indiaacquiringalmost fascisticovertones, compelledto proclaimin his 1935PartyDay
the currentrelevanceof this topic cannot be speech to the Frauenschaft,"When our op-
overlooked. What does fascism do to ponents say: Youdegradewomen by assign-
gender? The specific questions that have ing them no other task than that of
been dealt in this paper are the image of childbearing, then I answer that it is not
women in Nazi ideology and whether this degrading to a woman to be a mother. On
.imagery changed during the second world the contrary,it is her greatesthonour.There
war? Was it the women's vote that brought is nothing nobler for a woman than to be
Hitler to power? What were the voices of the mother of the sons and daughtersof the
,protest? Lastly, one cannot help but draw people."5 Gregor Strasser wrote that
some partial analogues with the way com- National Socialism intended to restorethe
munalorganisationsin Indialook at women. naturalorder,to accord women the respect
,they deserved as mothers and housewives.6
II Of course, this went hand in hand with
Motherhood and Sterilisation as an extreme separation of spheres for men
and women. There was a distancing of the
Racism and Sexism househbld from the 'productive'sphere, a
Women appeard in the Nazi world view. point that I will discuss later.The notion of
primarily as mothers-either as Aryan 'privatewoman' and 'public man'; mascu-
mothers, to be encouraged to have more line/feminine; strong/weak dichotomy;was
children and to be made fit to do so by the a part of this concept of sexualpolarity.The
new emphasison physicaltrainingwhich the married pair came to be viewed as com-
Nazis introducedin schools, workplacesand plementary:husband representingstrength,
organisationssuch as the Leagueof German domination, the world; the wife weakness,
Girls; or as 'inferior' mothers, as Jewish, sexuality, subordination,the home, i e, her
gypsy, handicapped or other 'degenerate' supposedly'natural'or 'biological'domains.
mothers and potential mothers, to be This stereotypicalrole clearly fixed women's
discouraged or prevented from having position in the home and in the family.
childrenand to be rigidlyseparatedfrom the Thus Adolf Hitler stated, "If we say the
favoured majority of the population.2 world of the man is the state, the world of
Thus reproduction, or as Gisela Bock the man is his commitment, we could then
prefersto call it, 'the reproductiveaspect of perhaps say that the world of the women is
women's unwaged housework',was directly a smallerworld for herworldis her husband,
effected by state policy.3 Thus in the context her family, her childrenand her home. But
where would the big world be if no-one
wantedto look after the small world? How
could the big worldcontinueto exist, if there
was no-one to make the task of caring for
the small worldthe centreof their lives?No,
the big world rests upon this small world!
The big world cannot survive if the small
world is not secure!"7
Alfred Rosenberg, the self-proclaimed
Nazi philosopher,representedthe femalesex
as the 'lyrical' pole, the male as the
'architectural'
Oppression of women in Nazi Germany
in fact furnishes the most extreme case of
anti-feminismin the 20th century.Therewas
a multiplicity of responsestowardswomen
and the family,i e, multipleexploitationand
simultaneous repressiveprotection.
A hystericalprotectiveanxiety on behalf
of guileless German women was one of the
hallmarksof Hitler's fantasies on the sub-
ject of 'Jewish pollution of the German
racial stock', etc, in Mein Kampf and it
formed one of the most persistent themes
in later Nazi anti-semitic propaganda.The
purity of the blood, the numerical power,
the rigourof the racewereideologicalgoals
of such high priority that all women'sacti-
vities other than breedingwere relegatedin
party rhetoric to secondary significance.8
There was in fact a close connection bet-
ween Nazi pro-natalismfor 'desirable'births
and its anti-natalismfor 'undesirable'ones.
Womenwerethus hailed as 'mothersof the
race',or, in stark contrast, vilified, as the
ones guilty of 'racial degeneration'.There
was a complex relationshipbetween racism
and sexismand they werenot just two forms
of exploitation. Before going into the
specificities of this, one or two points must
be made clear.
When the Nazis came to power,they were
confronted by a declining birth rate.9They
stated that the problem stemmed from the
women'smovement. Such women'sorgani-
sations based on bourgeois liberalismwere
abhorrentto the Nazis. It was believedthat
the women'smovementwas part of an inter-
national Jewish conspiracy to subvert the
Germanfamilyand thus destroythe German
race.10The movement, it claimed was en-
couraging women to assert their economic
independence and to neglect their proper
task of producingchildren.It was spreading
the feminine doctrines of pacifism,
democracyand 'materialism'.By encourag-

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 ing contraception and abortion and so
loweringthe birth rate,it was attacking the
very existenceof the German people. Thus
the feminist movement incorporatedin the
BDF, was defamed as a tool of the 'Jewish
world conspiracy' to destroy the unity and
existence of the German people.'
The Nazi policy thus took specific
measures to Increasethe birth rate of the
pure Aryan race. Variousmedals, tax con-
cessions and other privilegeswereconferred
upon mothers.A special marriageloan pro-
grammewas introducedas early as the sum-
mer of 1933 to eliminate women from the
gainful labour force and to encourage
marriageand procreation. It was an effec-
tive instrumentwhich promisedinterest-free
loans to young racially fit couples about to
marry as long as the woman promised not
to work until the loan was repaid. Richard
M Titmuss described the campaign as "the
most tremendous experiment ever attemp-
ted consciously to change biological
trends".12
In an attemptto encouragebirthswithout
spending money, the governmenthonoured
prolific German mothers in a variety of
ways. Mother's Day, an idea which had
spread from the United States to Germany
in 1923,becamea majorholiday;evenat the
end of the war,the partyfound the resources
to celebrate Mother's Day with pomp and
circumstance.The governmentawardedan
Honour Cross to prolific mothers and
ordered the Hitler Youth to salute womnen
wearing the medal.'3
Lateron in the ThirdReich(i e, in the late
1930s) 'breeding camps' were established
whereselected,unrilarried'raciallyvaluable'
Germans were sent for the purpose of im-
pregnating the women. Those who did
become pregnant could await childbirth in
special maternity homes for unmarried
motherswhich the Nazis providedunderthe
so-called Lebensborn scheme. In addition,
towardsthe end of the war, Hitler was even
thinking of introducingselective polygamy
for the purpose of making up the loss of
men in the war, 'improving the race' and
rewardingthe all-maleelite of the Thousand
Year Reich.
However, the most sexist and also the
most effective was the anti-abortion cam-
paign. This acquires a special significance
in the light of the recentagitation witnessed
in the US between the pro-choice and anti-
ibortion groups. The partial victory of the
anti-abortion lobby in this is a great threat
to the womens'movementtoday. It not only
denies womena fundamentalrightovertheir
bodies and reproductivelife, it also reduces
them to mere child-bearers.'4
It has been argued that birth control
policies and abortion laws have generally
played a powerful role as a reinforcersand
perpetuators of sexist ideology. They
monitor a woman's 'reproductiveand pro-
ductive' duties. They also reflect social
attitudes towards women, viewing them
primarily as mothers or as potential
mothers. In fact, medicine has the dubious
distinction of shifting justification for
sexism from religion to bio-medicine,
thereby, taking it out of the realm of pre-
judice and putting it within the confines of
'scientific' objectivity. The interpretations
medicine offers are basically to legitimise the
discrimination of women and their con-
tinuous oppression under the guise of
biological determinism.'5 This partially
helps in explaining the phenomenon of
scientific racism and sexism in Nazi
Germany.
To come back to the anti-abortion cam-
paign in Nazi Germany, on May 26, 1933,
two penal laws were introduced that pro-
hibited the availability of abortion facilities
and services. The Nazis banned contracep-
tives, closed birth control clinics and increas-
ed the penalties for abortion. From 1935 on,
doctors and midwives were obliged to notify
the regional state health office of every mis-
carriage. Women's names and addresses were
then handed over to the police who investi-
gated the cases suspected of being in
actuality abortions.'6
There was a gradual rise in the birth rate
after 1933 and the Nazi population planners
saw it as proof of the completely voluntary
and spontaneous confidence of the German
people in the Reich, the Fuhrer, the future,
a confession which could not be more
beautiful than. in the form of children of
confidence.
However, this cannot be accepted fully.
Nazi and non-Nazi demographers agree on
the limited extent of the rise in the birth
rate. '7 Also the increase does not seem to
have been"the result of Nazi politics and
goals. As economic conditions impreved,
voluntary births increased. One must also
not forget the coercive measure of pro-
natalism: forced labour for mothers through
the prohibition of abortion for valuable,
'German-blooded' women. In fact, there is
some evidence, though locally limited, that
after 1932 the rise in births nearly equalled
the decline in abortions.'8
A necessary corollary of anti-abortion was
race hygienic sterilisation. The glorification
of motherhood, which received public sup-
port, found its necessary counterpart, from
the Nazi perspective, in compulsory sterilisa-
tion for the sake of racial purity.'9 A new
statute was introduced in late spring )933 to
legalise eugenic sterilisation and prohibit
voluntary sterilisation. Beyond this, a
cabinet, headed by Hitler passed a law on
July 14, 1933, against propagation of 'lives
unworthy of life' called the 'Law for the
Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Off-
spring'. According to official German
statistics, more than 5,00,000 people were
sterilised in the last few years; of these 30,000
cases resulted in death. There were also 5,000
'eugenic abortions' from -1933 to 1939.
The victims of sterilisation were evenly
divided between men and women, and came
typically from the lower classes. Of the
women sterilised,servants,unskilledor poor
workers,prostitutes,unmarriedwomen and
most of all Jewswereoverrepresented.These
women deviated from the norm of 'accept-
able' gender behaviour.Properand orderly
Germanworkersof eithersex wereless likely
to become victims of sterilisation; 'race
hygiene'contributedto the maintenanceof
the class structureas well as the affirmation
of the Nazis' standards of proper gender
behaviour.20
The use of forceagainstthose who did not
submit freely, was an accepted norm. The
ministerof interiorWilhelmFrickannounc-
ed, "We must have the courage again to
grade our people according to its genetic
values".
Popularvernacularexpressedthe situation
pungently. Eugenic sterilisation was called
Hitderschnitt(Hitler's cut), therebylinking
it to an anti abortion policy which refused
abortions to women who had alreadygone
throughtwo previousceasarianoperations.
Only after three of these did a woman have
the right to abortion and then also only on
the condition that she also accepted the
Hidlerschnitt.21 Also the campaign for
sterilisation had its subtle appeal to naive
belief in modern science, social rationality,
and planning.22Its criteria of inferiority
had at the centre concepts of 'value' and
'valuelessness'that wererelatedto the social
or racial 'body' and its productivity.
Now one comes to the crucial point that,
transcendingolder political partisanships,
prohibitionof abortion and alongside com-
pulsory sterilisation, compulsory mother-
hood and prohibitionof motherhood-far
from contradicting each other-had now
become two sides of a coherentpolicy com-
bining sexism and racism.
This also went hand-in-hand with the
Nazi imageof seeingthe womanas a mother
and not as a sexual parasite. She was the
breederof races:"Tobreedmeans to create,
by means of'-deliberation and planned
utilisationof all aids, a generationwhich at
least is not belowthe valueof the progenitor,
and if possible, will improvethe stock from
generationto generation'23In fact, in Mein
Kampf Hitler glorified the brutality of
marital union for the sake of breeding.
Going by the method of the cattle breeder,
RichardWalterDatre(Hitler's Reichleader
of the peasantsand ministerof agriculture)
divided girls into four classes: those well-
suited for procreation,those less well-suited,
those hardly suited, and those unfit.24
As a soulless and anti-intellectualmove-
ment, National Socialismcould conceiveof
love only in terms of lust -and procreative
mechanics.Thus the main meaningand pur-
pose of marriagewas the 'multiplicationand
preservationof raceand kind' In one of his
nightlyreveries,Hitleraskedrhetorically:"Is
there a more lovely consecration of love,
pray, than the birth of a handsome babe
glowing with health? . . . Nature blesses the
love of two beings by givingthem a child...
To my way of thinking the real ideal is that
two beings should unite for life and that
their love should be magnified by the
presence of children'25
In fact female sexuality has always been

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a source of concern in all patriarchal duced experiencesand imagesof horrorthat ed to argue that women in Germanyin the
societies. Medical theories of the late 19th later intensified male demands for the 1920s, despite gaining the vote and other
and early 20the centurydrewa rigiddistinc- soothing ,nd procreative qualities they rights, and despite the image portrayedon
tion betweenreproductivityand sexuality.It, expectedof women. In contrastthe inter-war film, in literatureand (n6t least)in historical
was believed that the development of yearsbrought into question women'sgains, writing, "lost status and relative indepen-
reproductivepowersand of the materialin- especially their right to work. The decades dence and, quite probably,a corresponding '
stincts could only take place when sexuality of the 1920sand 1930ssaw renewedefforts sense of competence and self worth".32
itself was suppresed. Women were told (by to remove married women from the work- Duringthe Weimer.Republic, the most bit-
medical theoreticians) that sexual feelings force as 'double earners'. ter contest for jobs occuredin industryand
were "unnatural,unwomanly,pathological Demobilisation removed thousands of service.New jobs werecreatedbut increasing
and probably detrimental to the supreme women from their wartime jobs and numbersof lower middleclass and working
function of reproduction".26 However, retractedothers into lower paying 'female' class women workedin low-level,dead-end,
feministshavearguedthat motheringis part areas. By creating unemployment and job white-collarjobs, and those who workedin
of the operation of male domination: A competition, demobilisation intensifiedthe industrydid the most routineand underpaid:
woman's lack of control of reproductionis antagonism between -the sexes.29 Nazi work. These jobs were thus less rewarding
part of the social relations that define her Germany successfully fed on the post-war not least because they involved'atrivialisa-
oppression.27 disillusionmentto push forwardits ideal for tion of the female image, in the process of
Nazi Germany along with this emphasis women. which Germanwomencame to approximate
on motherhoodconsideredthe ideal woman The Nazis, in the 1920s and early 1930s, the helpless, clinging and coy sex object.33
to be confined to Kinder, Kurche, Kirche called for the removal of women from all Also, this had increasedthe pressureof
(Children, Kitchen, Chruch). Thus it was areasof political and economic life and the women's work and some women were
firmly believedthat the major influence of reversalof the gains women had made since anxious to leave the exploitation of the
women in society was exerted through the the beginningof the Germanfeministmove- workplace and take care of their respon-
medium of the family, the basic cell of the merit in the 1860s.30 sibilities as wives and mothers.34
state (called keimzelle). Nazi ideology Beforegoing into the specificities of this, At the same time, these new jobs were
granted women importance not only in the it is important and necessaryto give a brief moreconspicuousthanthe olderjobs. It was
family,but also as guardiansof racialpurity. background and examine the position of erroneouslybelievedat that time that women
It was for this reason that the Nazi image women in Germanyafter the end of the first wereachievingeconomic successby displac-
of women was not a simple reconstruction world war. ing men. Recent researchhas provenother-
of the Victorian ideal. There was great After and end of the war, there was a wise.35But the political significance of the
emphasis on her health, strengthand grace. numerical preponderence of women over contemporaryview and the backlashthat it
Thus she was not frail and helpless, but men. Some 1.7millionGermanmale soldiers created remains. What fascism has taught
strong, vigorous, athletic.This-pointwill be had been killed in the first world war.Thus, is that myths are importantand real if they
discussed in another part of my paper in the yearsfroml916(mobilisationfor the war influence how people. act. Even during
some detail. All this was sustainedand held effort) to 1929(onset of the world economic demobilisation at the end of the war, there
together by a barrageof propagandain all crisis)was a periodof intenseand rapidtran- had been public outcry against women's
forms. sition in the employment patterns of those work. It gathered momentum in the un-
What emerges from the above is the fact women who did not work outside the settled economic conditions of the early
that Nazi racism anrdsexism concerned all home.3' post-war period and resurfaced when
women: the 'inferior' as well as the Germanyactually embodied a profound massiveunemployment,causedby the Great
'superior'.Racismwas usedto imposesexism contradiction. On the one hand, the new Depression of 1929 in the United States,
in the form of unwaged housework on Constitution of the Weimar Republic ex- appeared in Germany.
'superior' women. On the other hand the pressedthe best of liberalprinciplespushed In reality, it was the process of job ra-
'inferior'women became targetsof negative in the directionof democracy.Guaranteeing tionalisationthat made women'swork seem
race hygiene. In fact, modern sexism was equality before the law and full political threatening to men. In a burst of effort
established,below the ideological surfaceof rights for women, as well as labour protec- beginning in the mid-1920s, Germany at-
theories of 'woman's nature' and the 'cult tion, it seemedto offer proof of the triumphW temptedto discardold plantsand equipment
of truewomanhood'.Thus in Nazi Ciermany, of feminism-women wereguaranteedequal and to modernise both industry and
racism and sexism went hand-in-hand and access to public life. On the other hand, agriculturein order to remain competitive
all womenwereequallyinvolvedin both, but Germanybecamethe home of the most anti- in the worldmarket.Rationalisationentailed
with different experiences. They were modern, violent and racist movement in the introductionof labour-sa*ingmachines,
segregated through dual sides of the same inter-war Europe. Thus the lower middle standardisatiohof parts,and a flow produc-
policy, a division that also worked to class revolt of the Nazis appeared to roll tion design that moved goods more swiftly
segregatetheir forms of resistanceto sexism back the tide and claims of the Republicto along an assemblyline. The new machinery
as well as racism.28 uphold women's equality. and techniques invaded not only the fac-
Thus it was the reproductivecapacitjesof However,there are differencesof opinion tories but even the offices.- It meant that
women that formedthe core of the Nazi pro- among feminists and historians as to work became divided into smaller, simpler
gramme as far as women were concerned. whether women in the Weimar Republic and morerepetitivestagesand permittedthe
But how was this imagery reconciledat the were actually as emancipated as one has lining up of unskilled cheap labour-the
time of the war? tended to assume. cheapestlabourerswerewomen.Rationalisa-
Throughoutthe life of the Repblic,there tion of production thus deskilled labour,
111 was a Rightist campaign which proclaimed restructuredand in certain cases rigidified
Woman's Place in War militant nationalism, coupled with anti- the sex-segregatedlabourmarket,while also
semitism, as its hallmark. It denigrated undermining traditional hierarchies of
Women'slives were-alteredby both world women's rights, seeing the assumption of skill.36.
wars of the 20th century.By disruptingthe non-traditional roles by women as 'un- However,what has been conclusivelypro-
normallinesof powerand social activity,the German' as well. ved is the fact that women did not replace
war opened up unparalleledopportunities In the field of employment also, the so- men; instead, they took jobs in expanding
for women in work and family decision- called economic advancementdr 'emancipa- industries that had previously employed.
making and made their work experiences tion' of women left a lot to be desired.Thus women. Rationalisationdid not signiificanitlyr
very differentfrom men's.The war also pro- RenateBridenthal,writingin 1973was forc- increase the proportion of women in. the

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 paid labour force. What it did was to
reorganisethe labourmarketso as to tighten,
eveninstitutionalise,the modernsexualdivi-
sion of labour.37 But their work was
definitelymore 'observable'now. In popular
mentalities,.thewomen'squestion becamea
man's question and a political and an
economic question; insofar as it aroused
generalpassions, leading to heated debates.
Yetthis view misses out one crucialpoint.
There were some gains made during this
period but simultaneously a part of the
feministmovementalso becamesociallyand
politically conservative.The radicalisation
of the feminist nlovement was superficial
and short-lived. The period of relative
stabilisation that allowed this culture-
alternativelyexperiencedas threateningand
exhilarating-to flourish was short-lived.
Despite the continued numericalgrowthof
feminist support, that support itself was
becomingrapidlyless liberalin characterby
1914.The liberalinstitutions in the Weimar
Republic were in fact extremely weak and
fragile.38
In this atmosphere of deteriorating
material conditions on the one hand and
some political benefits on the other, many
middle-classwomen'sorganisationspushed
towardsa Rightist direction.39
The lowermiddleclass revoltof the Nazis
was bound to make an impact.in such an at-
mosphere. The Nazi regime had a more
clearly defined and more self-conscious at-
titude towards women than perhaps any
other modern government.It was avowedly
illiberaland protectivein its aims. In their
eyes, women were that part of the popula-
tion on whom, if itNwas at all possible,novel,
major and general hardships should not
arbitrarilyor continuously be inflicted.40
Thus on the one occasion, referringto the
Social Democrats, Hitler wrote: "The so-
called granting of equal rights which
Marxismdemands, in realitydoes not grant
equal rightsbut constitutesa deprivationof
rights;since it drawsthe woman into situa-
tions that cannot strengthenher position vis-
a-vis both men and society-but only
weakens it.41
Thus motherhood and "work consistent
with women's natural inclination' such as
teaching small children, nursing, domestic
service, cooking, cleaning, were more to
pettybourgeois Nazi tastes than female
emancipation, independenceand competi-
tion with males. Here is how the ABC of
National Socialism expressed it: "German
women want to be wives and mothers...
They have no longing for the factory, no
longing for the office, no longing for the
parliament.A cosy home, a loving husband
and a flock of happy children is closer to
their heart.42
Adolf Hitlerstated,"Thewonderfulthing
about natureand providenceis that no con-
flict betweenthe sexes can occur as long as
each party performs the function prescrib-
ed for it by nature"?.43
Here it is imperativeto state the failure
of the feministorganisationsin providingan
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effective argument to counter the Nazi
ideology. The largest bourgeois feminist
organisationwas the BDF which to a large
extenthad openedup to the Right.But much
worse was the failure of the SPD (Social
Democratic Party) and the KPD (Com-
munist Party).The campaign against 'dou-
ble earners'in 1930 was supported even by
the SPD. Moreimportant,no well-developed
alternativediscourseexisted among the left
to compete with or counter the conceptual
frameworkprovidedby the Nazis on issues
of women'swage labour,political participa-
tion or access to higher education.
The demiseof SPD influence,the weaken-
ing of trade unions, the stalemate in the
Reichstag,the pressuresof unemployment,
and the failed agendas meant further dis-
illusionment.This also bringsinto focus the
weaknessesof the traditional Left in tackl-
ing gender specific problems,which left an
opening which was very skillfully used by
Nazism.
The economic situation of Germanyalso
playeda crucial role in the successof Nazis.
Historically,the Nazi regimewas partlythe
product and certainly the heir of the ra-
tionalisation of industrywhich was follow-
ed by economic depression and mass un-
employment. For the first time, however,a
governmentcame to powerwith an ideology
that made sex-specific employment an
integral part of its programme.It did not
returnsporadicallyto legal means to restore
the old 'balance', as had many previous
governments.Rather,it used a whole arsenal
of instruments.
There wAsdirect interventionof the state
in the size and structure of the labour
market. The depression had increased
unemployment and thus the campaign
against married women's employment
increased.44Also marriageloans weresanc-
tioned.45 In short, the ideology of the
"innate differences between men and
women" and of 'sex-specificwork' became
something like an official doctrine.
Yet,duringthe second world war,a grave
need was felt to employ women, since they
constiuted the largest available reserve of
workers.How was the Nazi ideology of con-
fining women to their homes or in 'proper'
jobs reconciledwith this? Beforeproceeding,
it is importantto rememberthat basic ideas
about the 'proper'roles of the sexes change
extremelyslowly. But propaganda,through
popularmedia for publicconsumption,can
lead to sudden and temporary changes
(usually imposed by economic or political
need) without challenging traditional
assumptionsabout women'srole in society.
This in part can explain the lack of change
in the statusof womenafterthe crisisis over.
Thus, the Nazi image of women seems to
have remained'relativelystable throughout
the period. Howevereconomic determinants
led to a shift in the Nazi policy, without a
corresponding change in response to the
'ideal'.46These shifts found their justifica-
tion in the NationalSocialistprincipleof the
common good before the individual good.
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
The mainstreamNazi conceptionof women
owed its flexibility to this principle, for the
ideal Nazi woman owed service to the state
above all else.
The blend of traditionalideas and Nazi
principles which characterised the main-
streamimagegave it the necessaryresilience
to meet changed economic circumstances.
Also, the various measures that were
adopted were aimed initially not only to
drive women away from employment but
also in the direction of deskilling. All this
had the potentialto attractdifferentgroups
and these werepoints on which the interests
of various partially competing pressure
groups converged-that of industry,which
wanted a cheap and disciplined labour
reservefor assembly-linework and typing;
that of middle-classmen, who wantedto get
rid of femalecompetitionfor middleor high
level white collar jobs; that of middle-class
housewives who on the one hand sought
confirmationof theirroles within the home
and on the other wanteddomestics;that of
agriculture,which wantedlabourerswith no
other choice of work; that of the regime,
which wanted a female population that
could reconcilethe majorgoal of child bear-
ing with readiness to perform diverse and
vital tasks whenever men were in short
supply.47
The Nazi authors believed that the best
situation for a woman was as full-time
housewifeand mother.She was the transmit-
ter of German culture, guardian of racial
purity and supporterof national economic
policy. However,the employed woman was
by no means forgotten or totally rejected.
Thus it was stated that "no woman who out
of personal preference,wants to take up a
profession, will be prevented from doing
so... Germany,the greatmother,embodied
in NationalSocialism,lovesand needsevery
one of her daughters:the one by her child's
cradle and the one behind the counter, the
one at the stove and the one at the lectern,
the one in the factory and the one in the
laboratory,every one who works honestly
and selflessly for the rise of our
Fatherland.48
Especiallyat the time of the second world
war,traditionwas redifinedand womenwere
urged to be traditional by reclaimingtheir
economicimportance.Thus the official Nazi
women'smagazineannounced, "Wesee the
woman as the eternalmotherof our people,
but also as the working and fighting com-
rade of the man!" One woman wrote that
womenstill belongedprimarilyto the home,
but then proceeded to redifine 'home' to
include, 'Wherever Germany may need
us!'49
What was also crucialand centralwas the
element of 'sacrifice'. This principle of
sacrifice for the state justified discrimina-
tion against employed womcn in the first
years of the Nazi regime as well as the en-
couragement of employment after 1936.50
Also, accordingto anotherview,driveninto
marriage and monotonous work, retu.ned
to the labour marketby the narrownessand
WS-43
 dependence on the nuclear family and by
economic need, women provided the desired
flexible assembly line proletariat that never
could qualify for full social security and
protection.5'
But it must be remembered that Germany
failed in mobilissing its women labour force
during the war, especially if one compares
it with America. Germany's female labour
force increased by only 1 per cent from 1939
to 1944 (Figure). Though the Nazis declared
that woman's place was in the war, their
mobilisation propaganda was not as forceful
(if more forthright) as that of America. This
was due to a number of reasons. Hitler was
opposed to conscription of women. Also
Nazi propoganda expressed great concern
with protecting women from physical or
mental strain that might endanger them as
mothers. All this resulted in a confused
government policy towards the mobilising of
women and an absence of concerted pro-
paganda campaigns. Also, the financial in-
centive for women to go back to employment
was quite poor. Germany made no pretense
of instituting an equal pay poliCy.52
However, inspite of this failure, the fact
remains that for the Nazis the second world
war was a total war, calling for total parti-
cipation. And this called for sacrifices on
the home front. Along with this, it is impor-
tant to state a point that I have referred to
earlier, i e, the Nazi image of women was
not a simple reconstruction of the Victorian
ideal. The woman as mother was healthy
and strong. The peasant woman who
laboured in the fields, cared for the garden
and poultry, cooked the meals, cleaned the
house, and bore numerous strong healthy
children was a prime example of the Nazi
ideal.
The heroic woman in war-time was one
who could take on a man's work in an
emergency and write a courageous letter to
her husband at the front without knowing
from where her next meal would come.
Thus Nazi ideology on women was, like
Nazi ideology in general, a strange mixture
of traditional conservative ideas, vague long-
ings for a mythical past and acceptance of
the needs of a modern economy. The result
of the blending of ideas and the controversy
among Nazi theorists was the creation of an
ideal that reflected the conflicts and con-
fusion confronting a society in the process
pf modernisation.
The Nazis used biology to explain every
twist and turn of changing labour policy
with regard to women, ultimately relying on
a supposed material instinct to keep women
from being fully committed to the perma-
nent labour force-and at the same time
employing them when the need arose.53
The adaptation of war images to the
demands of war allowed the German public
to accept the employment of women in 'un-
womanly' occupations without challenging
basic ideas about 'woman'splace'.Also the
Nazi ideology promisedwomen securityand
meaningg in what was, from a conservative
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and nationalist point of view, a world gone associates have been given an almost
mad.54 distortedtwist. The stereotypeof womenas
Thus thereserms to be some substancein emotional and submissive (which was
the statementthat women'svote was crucial prevalentin Europeansociety beforethe first
for the rise of Hitler. world war) is certainly refleeted here.Also,
the sexismin such commentsis veryobvious.
IV It clearly shows the conservative social
Women: For or Against?' ideology of the period. Also, there was
perfectly orchestrated,propaganda which
It is one of those classic questions that carefully stage-managed Hitler's rallies to
historians have asked and pondered over prove a particular point.
since the victory of Hitler. Was it really the The other reason which appears much
women's vote that brought Hitler to more plausibleis the one presentedby some
power?" Why did women support a move- feminists. Firstly, as I have shown women
ment that was so obviouslyanti-feminst?Or were not as emancipated in the Weimar
did they reallysupportit so massivelyas has Republicas one had tendedto assume Thus,
been claimed? Werethere no voices of pro- Hitler'sviewshad a certainappeal for them.
test? If they were there, then what was the The strongestview seemsto me to be the one
form they took? recentlypresentedby Claudia Koonz.f She
Unfortunately, while one has abundant explains the enthusiasm of millions of
materialon the first set of questions, infor- women for Hitler's projectdue to the prac-
mationregardingthe secondis extremelydif- tical social importancenow accordedto the
ficult to find. activitieswhich they carriedout anyway.To
Hitler stated in 1933, "Women have be a mother for the Fatherland, to save
always been among my staunchest sup- Germany,to put an end to want-the ideals
porters. They feel my victory is their interlocked,becamesynonymouswith being
victory.'" As I have stated before, women a woman. Consequently politics, military
were numericallymore in number after the affairs and science could be left to men,
war5 and thus they predominated in the because hearth and home did not simply
electorate as well. There does seem some promisewomen somethingprivatebut made
prima facie justification for the belief that the familiar work of the privste itself a
the femalevote was importantas an element public sector.
in the Nazis' success.5" Non-interferenceand the cultivation of
One of the most dubious but widely differencebetweenthe sexes-these wereat
accepted popular explanation for this once a promise and a practice on the basis
phenomenonis the supposedirrationalityof of which women could erect their own
women. This analysis fails to consider realm,sufficiently freeand autonomous for
women'scapacity for political thought and its explicitsubordinationto the male sphere
action. There is 'an alleged tendency for not to weigh so heavily.Common to all was
women to make politial choices on the basis the enthusiasm for a specific women's
of candidates'personalqualitiesratherthan sphere, for motherhood as feminine con-
by reference to issues. Thus women are tribution to the national community. They
assumedto 'personalise'politics, denyingits left politics to the men because they had
political content.59 more important things to do;.they fed 'the
Thus Grunberger worte, "Hitler's holy flame of motherhood', at last they
monkishpersonaengendereda greatdeal of could call one another 'sister'.65Thus the
sexual hysteriaamong women ... not least centre of Koonz's book is not women's
among spinsters, who transmitted their hystericalenthusiasm at the sight of Hitler,
repressied yearnings into tantrymose a perspective familiar from many studies,
adoration"" Fest also stated, the "over- but the conviction they showed in carrying
excited,distinctlyhystericaltone" of Hitler's out ordinary daily tasks.
meetings "sprangin the first place from the Another recent work by Richard J
excessiveemotionalism of a particularkind Evans" points to the fact that the feminist
of elderlywoman who sought to activatethe movement itself in Germany had become
unsatisfiedimpulseswithinher in the tumult socially and politicallyconservative.Largely
of mighty political demonstrations before Left-liberaland progressivebefore 1914,by
the ecstatic figure of Hitler".6 1930 BDF had opened up to the Right.
In the same stream it has been suggested Some feminist historians, particularlyin
that this was not one-sided. It has been Germany,havebeen reluctantto acceptthat
statedthat Hitlerexploitedand,rnanipulated the feministmovementat this time,likeother
"specific female qualities, such as capacity bourgeois liberal associations, became
for self-surrenderor demand for authority vulnerable to the lure of Nazi ideology.
and orderr".62Hitler himself wrote in Mein Infact IreneStoehr,a German feminist,has
Karnpf,"The people in their overwhelming argued that parliamentarydemocracy had
majority are so feminine by nature and at- proved to be as bad as fascism for women
titude that sober reasoningdeterminestheir and thus there was no need for women to
thought and actions far less than emotions oppose it. She extends the argument to
and feelings".63 ridiculous limits when she states that the
Howeverthese argumentshave no scien- feminist movement was in fact becoming
tific basis and thereare many problemswith more radical.The feministcall of retreatinto
them. The views of Hitler anid his close the home is thus interpretedas a form of
Economic and Political Weekly April 27, 1991
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
radicalism as they were withdrawingfrom
'masculine' politics.67
However,history, facts, and above all the
women'smovement have effectively proved
this argument to be wrong. To say that
women's position in Weimar and Nazi
Germanywas the same is virtuallycriminal
in viewof the degradationand murderwhich
millionsof women sufferedunderthe Third
Reich. It has been effectively argued by
Venska, another German feminist that
"using biological sex as the starting-point
for political judgments", which Stoehr
regardsas a form of resistance,has been part
of the male reportoire since time im-
memorial, and it is more plausible when
women use it. In fact women's withdrawal
or rather, forced retreat, into a 'female'
political sphere of welfare and social work
may well have been a factor in allowing the
male political world to become so violent.68
One or two points need to be made here.
The vast majority of Protestant women,
especiallytheir leadersrecognisedtheirown
anti-emancipatory values, as well as their
anti-communism in Nazism and, given a
degreeof autonomy,werewilling to comply
with them.69At the same time it must be
remembered, that at times women were
reluctantto vote and many of them usually
voted for that party/person to whom the
male members of their family voted. Thus
it would be an oversimplification to state
that it was just women's vote that brought
Hitler to power or that women voted purely
to parties' policies on women's issues. The
Nazis won support because they were able
to appeal to many different sectors.of the
population. Also as I have stated earlier
there was a degree of flexibility of Nazi
positionon womenand withoutcompromis-
ing on their basic ideology, they were able
to induce certain changes and modify their
policies to suit their needs, thus leading to
a certain degree of confusion.70
V Whatever the motivation, personal or
Voices of Protest
All this is not. to say that there was no
resistanceon the part of women. However
therewasa failureto act and defy in a united
fashion. While each individual act of
resistance was courageous, it remained
relativelyineffectual.
Claudia Koonz, in her recent book, talks
of resistance by women in some detail.71
She recountsthe fate of individual wonten:
their work at first in open groups, then
underground, abroad, their arrest, their
execution. Their names form a chain-
women who courageously did the obvious
when the obvious was outrageous,and were
murderedbecauseof it. To learnabout them
is hearteningbecause they bear witness that
resistancewas possible; their life stories are
also horrifying and crippling because they
show that resistance was impossible.
The resistance mainly came from com-
mnunists, socialistsand Catholics.Some were
politically motivatedor wereinspiredbyan
Economic and Political Weekly April 27, 1991
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FIGURE: COMPOSITIONOF GERMAN LABOUR FORCE, 1939-1944
50 50
__ ....................... ...... .......................... .
_ , ...................... ..............................................
.................. ..........................
.....................
40 _:.ale rmedforc.........s.....
b}.GW> v ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.
. ...............
..::::::::::...4... .......................... .........................,,.
.........,-
is _4_ ........ ,W1WO................ .................~~~~~~~~~~~.......................
~~~~~~~~~~~..................................
_
30 3=3
0 0
male civilian labor force E
20 20
10 _ .__ _ _____
for: -: female labor
1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 year
Sou.rce:Leila J Rupp, Mobilising Womenfor War:Geran and American Propaganda 1939 1945
(Princeton University Press, USA, 1978), p 77.
internalisedmoralcode. But they did not call wages... And what arewe womensupposed
for organisedresistanceagainstHitler.It has to do in the days to come?iNo Nazi can tell
been pointed out that the Hitler-StalinPact US!"75
and the Concordat with the Pope even tied Koonz states that because of social pre-
down the enormous international power judice about their position and character,
which these institutions should-havehad at women were particularly suited to the
their command. The consequence was in- dangerous and important work of passing
dividual heroism without strategy,creating on information. Their coffee parties allow-
countless martyrs. ed them to meet withoutarousingsuspicion;,
There were, however, various acts and prams and shopping bags were convenient
forms of resistance.Workingclass women means of transport.-The view that.women
sloweddown on the job, middle-classwomen were above all mothers capable of expres-.
could not be mobilised in th&workforce. sing warmth but not provided with great
Most women refused to have large families. intelligence, meant that it was some time
before the security organs paid any atten-
political, women'srecalcitrancehinderedthe tion to them. She concludes that the
smooth functioningof the war machineand women'sresistancenetwork was closer and
made it impossible to achieve a total more effective than historians describe.76
mobilisationof 'Aryan'labour for total war. The great women's organisations-
Some womengave food or other support to particularlythose of the churches-faile-din
Jews,political fugitives,and slavelabourers, the face of fascism, not least because the
and a few hid and saved the prosecuted.72 conceptionand practiceof culturallydistinct
The oralhistoryof KatharinaJacobshows women's sphere, with motherhood and
how she operated the tools of resistance: family at their centre, suited them. The
typewritersand mimeographmachinesthat, organisationof the workingclass faile4l,not
produced 'forbidden leaflets.73 Hanna only because internationalopposition had
Schmitt, a Swiss woman active in the Inter- been blunted by the Hitfer-StalinPact, but
national Women's League for Peace and also becausethey recognisedfar too late the
Freedom, and had worked closely with threat of a politics which did not deal in
Germanfeministsduringthe Weimarperiod! terms of class and property; but whose
came out heavilyagainstNazi rulein a docu- whole propaganda effort was directed
ment: The Disfranchisement of Women.74 towardsthe sphereof reproduction-towards
A factoryworkerin Nazi Germanywrote the reproductionof a 'pure','healthy'race.
a letter entitled: 'Discharged-When You, This politics was orientedtowardswomen's
Are Too Old'. She stated: ' . . I was given two everydaylives, it elevated them by drawing'
weeks' notice along with nine women their activities into the public sphere, and
workers.We are dischargedand our places degradedthem becauseat the sametime they
taken- by men from the storm troopers' remained in subordinate and biologically
ranks.They'lldo women'swork for women's determinedareas. The elevation meant that
WS-45
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 they did not experience fascism only as a
threat, and that organised resistance, the
only kind which could havebeen successful,
did not take place.
But what about the Jewishwomen?At the
time of WeimarRepublic,therewas a power-
ful League of Jewish Women which strug-
gled to promote feminist goals within the
Jewish community and which belonged to
the organised bourgeois German women's
movement until the Nazis seized power.
After that they were increasinglyostracised
and persecuted as Jews. Previous feminist
solidarity vanished into thin air, and
strategies of sheer survival replaced the
earlier gender-specific concerns of Jewish
feminists.77
Between 1933 and 1938 the League of
JewishWomenjoined otherJewishorganisa-
tions in a struggle for survival. This
endeavourtook severalforms: fightinganti-
semitism, preventingthe disintegration of
communal organisations,ensuringthe con-
tinuationof Jewishpractices,helpingneedy
Jews and preparingpeople for emigration.78
It must also be rememberedthat the im-
possibly misogynist nature of the Third
Reich made feminism both futile and
dangerous. They also launched a self-
discipline campaign in which simplicity in
the appearanceof women and girls was en-
couraged. They stressed on a simple stan-
dard of living. In a defensive posture, they
demonstrated a common characteristicof
oppressedminorities,blamingthemselvesto
a certain eytent for their victimisation.
What emergesis that at the time of crisis,
racialidentityprevailedover femalesolidari-
ty not only among Jews, where the identity
was imposed, but also among Germangen-
tile women, who accepted and sometimes
embraced racist divisions.79
Voicesof protestweredefinitelyheard,but
they werenot unified. The failure,especially
on the part of communists, to organise a
united and effective resistanceis crucial in the portrayalof women in Nazi Germany.
the context of today as well; more so for
India, with increasingcommunalisation of
politics. Though the Left has recognisedthe
link between gender class racial colonial
exploitation theoretically, in practice this constructedespecially in the second half of
linkage has been integratedto mean virtual
marginalisationof a host of gender-specific
problemsas 'bourgeoisfeminism'.The Nazi
experience must teach us otherwise.
VI
Conclusion
One of the featuresof the Nazi state was was his understandingof the role of women
its totalitarian tendency to wipe out the
boundaries between public and privatelife
and to politicise every aspect of the indi- women's existence but what was crucial in
vidual's existence.80 As time went on
women came to resist this politicisation of
the family.The stage was set for the cult of .special breed of men. For example, the
domesticity which was a central featureof
German social and political life in the two
decades following the collapse of the Third The birth of the child is also followed by a
Reich.
Another enduring image of post-war clothing, etc, for both mother and child.84
Germanywas also one of women standing
in the ruins,engagingin a national clean up
campaign, again devoted to rebuilding
fa-milyand nation, and forgetting the very
recent past.
It has been arguedby many feministsthat
in various social functions the position and
identityof women took precedence;oppres-
sed whatevertheir particularcircumstances.
Hence the importance of feminist con-
sciousness in any revolution.8"But the
fascist experiencehas taught us that this is
just one side of the picture.The history of
German-Jewishwomen forcesus to acknow-
ledge the salience of race in the current
struggles for women's equality.
Also, women's protest against fascism
would haveconsistedof joining togetherthe
spheres politically; the sphere of reproduc-
tion should neither be abandoned, nor
merelybe given publicrecognition.Its tasks
have to be articulatedin a political context
and distributed as work for the whole of
society irrespectiveof gender,but in relation
to other tasks.
Fascismhas also shownthat publicimages
may change in moments of crisis but they
do not bring any majorchange because the
dominating imagery remained of women's
'place'in the home or in the war,signifying
that little had changed.
Today, the neo-Nazi trends are again
casting a shadow upon Germany.Thereare
around70 neo-Nazigroupsand associations
active. Together they run nine book pub-
lishing houses, 18newspapersand magazine
establishmentsand 15 distributionservices,
accounting for publications with a total
circulation of more than nine million
copies. - This alarming trend makes
fascismtoday a living realityand the lessons
of history cannot be forgotten.
I cannot end this paper without drawing
some Indian analogues (though partial) to
Duringthe colonial period,in the interaction
between colonialism and nationalism, the
woman's question held a key place. A new
identity for Indian womanhood was .re-
the 19th century which highlighted their
'Aryan' values. This was expressed in the
writings of R C Dutt, Bankim Chandra
Chatterjiand most explicitly in Dayananda
Saraswati's. His writings at times bear a
similarity to the Nazi position on some
questions.83
What wascentralto Dayananda'sthinking
in the maintenanceof race.Motherhoodfor
Dayananda was the sole rationale of a
his concept of motherhood was its specific
role in the procreation and rearing of a
Satyarth Prakash lays down a variety of
rules and regulationsfor ideal conception.
seriesvof regulations on food, cleanliness,
This evokes the concept of motherhood in
Nazi Germany.85
In present day India there is a visible
escalationof communalconflicts and an in-
creasingpoliticisa{ionof religiousidentities.
An importantmanifestationof this 'funda-
mentalism'of religion is a fundamentalist
assault on women's freedom and identity.
The Shah Bano and Roop Kanwarincidents
reveal the coming together of fundamen-
talism and a partisan state and reflect the
several patriarchies.86
While these have been the most blatant
manifestations,the basic ideology of com-
munal organisations in relation to gender
has a markedsimilaritywith Nazism. Hindu
communal organisationslike the Rashtriya
SwayamSevak Sangh (RSS) are vocal sup-
porters of Hitler's rule. And what do they
have to say about women?
In an important commentary on the
'perversionof (Indian or Hindu) virtues',
V D Savarkarseverely rebukes Shivaji for
havingbeen decenttowardsMuslimwomen,
in keeping with the ideas of religious
tolerance,respectfor 'other(men's)women'
and the protection of women belonging to
the enemy.Thus he chidesShivajifor having
turned a deaf ear to the cries of Hindu
women captured and molested by Muslim
warriors, and then reprimands him for
having failed to order the molestation and
rapeof Muslim women, both as a deterrent
and as a punishment."Hadsuch terrorbeen
inflicted upon the (community of) Muslim
women in the first two or threecenturiesof
Muslim conquest, then lakhs. of Hindu
mothers, sisters and daughters would not
have had to suffer the humiliation that
became their lot for hundreds of years."
Besides, says Savarkar, this would have
helped limit the 'enemy' Muslim
population.87
In fact there is almost a hystericalprotec-
tive anxiety about numbers, evoking clear
imagesof Nazi Germany.A pamphletof the
VHP states:Ek Hindu ka nara hai 'humdo
hainare do' jabki ek Muslim ka nara hai
'ham panch hamarepacchis88 Worse still
an article by Vijay KumarMalhotra, who
is a BJP MP is titled: Bharatmein Hinduon
ki ghatti sankhiya par chinia. The article
expresses grave worry at the declining
percentageof Hindu population. It goes on
to say that India can only retain its basic
values if the majority is Hindu, since
Muslims succeeded in partitioning the
country.89It is amply clear as to what will
happen to women in such an ideology, as
underlying such statements is an obvious
attackon Muslimfemale'fertility'and a call
for Hinduwomento producemorechildren.
More so, Balasaheb Deoras, the present
chief of the RSS, justifies the exclusion of
women from the RSS structure on the
groundsof domestic responsibilities:"How
can women participate in 'shakhas' when
they have domestic responsibilities?"'xM
Thus in today's world the Nazi ideology
is very much alive. Women are cast in a

WS-46 Economic and Political Weekly April 27, 1991

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 particular mould both- to symbolise the
identity of the community or race and to
embQdyits definition in relation to other
communities or races. It logically follows
that the struggle,against womens' oppres-
sion, along with female solidarity, has to
embracemany more levels. The connection
betweenclass oppression,gender identities,
colonialismr imperialism, etc, has to be
recognised.They have to be fought jointly
for a just future.
Notes
11am greatful to my guide Sumit Sarkar for
his valuable suggestions and to Monica Juneja
for all the initial help. Warm thanks to our
Gender Studies Group and especially Uma
Chakravorty for listening patiently to the
preliminarydraft and helping me rethink some
of the points.]
I Herman Glaser, The Cultural Rools of
National Soc ialism, (Croom Helm,
London, 1978), p 177.
2 Richard J Evans, Comrades and Sisters:
Feminism, Socialism and Pacifism in
Europe, 1870-1945 (Great Britain, 1987),
p 161.
3 For a very good analysis of this aspect see,
Gisela Bock, 'Racism and Sexism in Nazi
Germany: Motherhood, Compulsory
Sterilisation and the State' in Signs, Vol 8,
No 3, 1983, pp 40O-421.
4 Taken from Leila J Rupp, 'Mother of the
Volk: The Image of Woman in Nazi
Ideology' in Signs, Vol 3, No 2, 1977,
pp 363-64.
5 Ibid, p 364..
6 Ibid.
7 Taken from Tim Mason, 'Women in
Germany, 1925-40: Family, Welfare and
Work', in History Workshop, spring 1976,
p 74. The statement was made by Adolf
Hitler in a speech to the National Socialist
Women's Organisation on September 8,
1934.
8 Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, book 1, chapter
Xl, (New York, 1939).
9 For the point on differential birthrate and
social differences in fertility see John
Knodel, The Decline of Fertility in
Germany; 1871-930 (Princeton University
Press, Princeton, 1930).
10 P J P Pulzer, The Rise of Political Anti-
Semitism in Germanyand Austria, Chapter
23 (New York, 1964).
11 There is now a substantial literature on
German womin in the Third Reich. For
useful introductions see Jill R Stephenson,
The Nazi Organisation of Women (Croom
Helm, London, 1981); Renate Bridenthal,
Atina Grossmann, and Marion Kaplan
(eds), When Biology became Destiny.
Womenin Weimarand Nazi Germany(New
York, 1984).
12 Richard M Titmnuss, Parents Revolt
(London, 1966), p 105. Also see Clifford
Kirkpatrick,Nazi Germany:Its Womenand
Family Life (New Yqrk, 1938), p 152.
Richard Titmtiss in his other book, Essays
on 'The Welfare State' (London, 1958,
chapts 5 and 6), gives a brilliant introduc-
tory survey of how thelproportion of adult
women who did not marry fell from 28.2
Economic and Political Weekly April 27, 1991
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
per cent to 23.1 per cent between 1910and (eds), Connecting Spheres(OUP, New York,
1939 in Germany. The absolute number of 1987), p 214.
married couples rose by almost 6 million 21 RichardGrunberger,A Social History of the
over the same period. Third Reich (London, 1971), p 332.
13 Leila J Rupp, op cit, p 371. 22 For an overview of the eugenics movement
14 For the main points of the recent judgment see Allan Chase, The Legacy of Malthus:
of the US Supreme Court regardingthis see The Social Costs of the New Scientific
Archana Sachdeva, 'Anti-Abortion l aws Racism (New York, 1977), pp xv-xxii and
Violate a Woman's Basic Rights' in The chapter 1.
Titnes of India, July 1989. 23 Glaser, op cit, p 189.
15 There is a lot of material published on this. 24 For Walter Datre's breeding concepts see
Some preliminaryworks are, Elizabeth Fee, Clifford R Lovin, 'Blut and Boden: The
'Women and Health Care: A Comparison Ideological Basis of Nazi Agricultural
of Theories' in International Journal of Programme' in Journal of the History of
Health Services, Vol 5, No 3, 1975, Ideas, No 28, 1967, pp 279-88.
pp 347-415; G J Baker Benfield, The 25 Taken from August Kubizek, The Young
Horrors of the Half-Known Life (Harper Hitler I Knew, trans E V Anderson (Boston,
and Row, New York, 1976);Graham Milary 1955), p 233.
and Ann Oakley, 'Competing Ideologies of 26 Sathyamala, op cit, pp 55-56.
Reproduction: Medical, and Maternal 27 Zillah R Eisenstein (ed), Capitalist
Perspectives on Pregnancy' in Helen Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist
Roberts(ed), WomenHealth and Reproduc- Feminism (Monthly Review Press, USA,
tion (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1979).
1981),pp 50-74; C Sathyamala, 'Is Medicine 28 Bock, op cit, pp 419-21.
Inherently Sexist?' in Socialist Health 29 For a good account of the situation between
Review, Vol 1, No 2, September 1984, the world wars and its effect on women see
pp 53-7. Bridenthalet al (eds), op cit, intro, pp 6-10.
16 Jill Stephenson, Women in Nazi Society Also see M J Bower et al (eds), op cit,
(Croom Helm, London, 1975), p 68. pp 187-211.
17 For the demographic debate see David V 30 For a good discussion on t.his see Claudia
Glass, Population: Policies and fovements Koonz, 'Mothers in the Fatherland:Women
in Europe (Frank Cass, London, 1967), in Nazi Germany' in Renate Bridenthaland
pp 263-313, on Germany and passim for Claudia Koonz (eds), Becoming Visible
other European countries. (Boston, 1977), p 445-73.
18 Ibid, pp 311-13. 31 Tim Mason, op cit, pp 77-78.
19 For a very good account of this aspect see 32 Renate Bridenthal, 'Beyond Kinder,Kuche,
Renate Bridenthal et al (eds), op cit. Kirche:WeimarWomen at Work' in Central
20 See Marilyn J Boxer and Jean H Quataert European History, 1973, pp 148-66.
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 33 Ibid.
34 Koonz,op cit.
35 Mason, op cit, and Bridenthal,op cit.
36 For an understandingof the process of
rationalisationsee Bridenthalet al (eds)
WhenBiologybecame4estiny,op cit, intro,
pp 10-11.
37 Ibid.
38 Larry E Jones, "'The Dying Middle":
WeimarGermanyand the Fragmentation
of BourgeoisPolitics'in CentralEuropean
History,1972,pp 23-54.Also see Richard
J Evans, The Feminist Movement in
Germany 1894-1933,(Sage Publications,
London, 1976).
39 Fora studyof the case of the Housewives
Union and how it got pushedin the Nazi
campsee RenateBridenthal,'ClassStrug-
gle around the Hearth: Women and
DomesticServantsin the WeimarRepublic'
in Michael N Dobkowski and Isidor
Walliman(eds), Towardsthe Holocaust:
TheSocial and EconomicCollapseof the
Weimar Republic, (Westport, 1983),
pp 243-64.
40 Tim Mason, op cit, p 86.
41 Quotedin GeorgeL Mosse,Nazi Culture:
Intellectual,Culturaland SociakLifein the
ThirdReich (New York,1966),pp 30-47.
42 liken fromHarryG Shaffer,Womenin the
7ho Germanie&' A ComparativeStudyof
a Socialist and a non-Socialist Society
(PregamonPress,USA, 1981),p 6.
43 Claudia Koonz, 'The Competitionfor a
Women'sLebensraum, 1928-1934'in Renate
Bridenthal et al (eds), When Biology
becameDestiny,op cit, pp 199-236.
44 Dismissal of women with employed
husbandsand of unmarriedwomen,who
could be supportedby theirparents.Thus
womenwereattackedas 'double'earners.
SeeJillStephenson,Womenin NaziSociety
(London, 1975).
45 See Section 11of this article.
46 Fora good analysisof this aspectsee Leila
J Rupp, Mobilising Womenfor War:
German and American Propaganda,
1939-1945 (PrincetonUniversityPress,USA,
1978).
47 Annemarie lToger, 'The Creation of a
Female Assembly-Line Proletariat' in
Bridenth4l et al (eds), When Biology
becameDestiny,op cit, pp 237-70.
48 Quote taken from LeilaJ Rupp, 'Mother
of the Volk' in Signs, op cit, p 373.
49 TkkenfromClaudiaKoonz,'Mothersin the
Fatherland' in RenateBridenthalet al (eds),
BecomingVisible,op cit, p 466. Thisargu-
ment has also got a close bearingto that
of Gail Minault,usedin the contextof the
Indian National Movementand women's
participation.The idea of the 'extended
family'was to includethe whole of India
into the family.See Gail Minault(ed), The
ExtendedFamily:WomenandPoliticalPar-
titipation in India and Pakistan (Chanakya
Publications,Delhi, 1981).
50 In fact, one sees that in manymovements
womenareseento havea greatcapacityfor
sacrifice.Thus their participationis also
seen as somethingof a 'sacrifice'for the
common good and not as something
'natural'.
51 AnnemarieTroger,op cit, p 265.
WS-48
This content downloaded from 212.219.139.72 on Mon, 28 Dec 2015 19:18:14 UTC
52 Fora detailedstudyof thissee LeilaJ Rupp, 71 Koonz, Mothers in the Fatherland, op cit.
Mobilising Womenfor War,op cit. 72 Renate Bredentha)et al (eds), WhenBiology
53 AnnemarieTroger,op cit. Became Destiny, op cit, p 28.
54 Someinsightintotheappealof Nazismfor 73 Reprinted in Bridenthal, ibid, 'Comrade-
womencan be gained from readingsome Woman-Mother-ResistanceFighter'.as told
of the autobiographiesof womeb party to Gerda Szepansky by Katherina Jacob,
memnbers, availablein PeterMerki,Political pp 349-62.
Violenceunder the Swastika 581 Early 74 Republished in Elanor S Riemar et al (eds),
Nazis (Princeton Univesity Press, UK, op cit, pp 11-13.
1975).Also see ElanorS Riemarand John 75 Ibid, p 114.
C Fout (eds), European Women: A 76 Koonz, Mothers in the Fatherland, op cit.
Documentary History,1789-1945(Schocken 77 See Marion Kaplan, 'Sisterhood under
Book, New York,1980),pp 106-10.It has Seige: Feminism and Anti-Semitism in
a documentwrittenby GuidaDiehl,which Germany, 1904-1938' in Renate Bridenthal
talksof the adherenceto Nazi principlesby et al (eds), When Biology Became Destiny,
theNationalSocialistWomen'sAssociation. op cit, pp 174-1%.
55 See HermannRaurschning, HitlerSpeaks: 78 Ibid, p 190.
A Series of Political Conversationswith 79 Ibid, p 193.
Adolf Hitleron His RealA ims, (London, 80 W S Allen, The Nazi Seizure of Power: The
1939),p 259. Experience of a Single German Town,(New
56 Quotedin HelenBoak,'Womenin Weimar York, 1984).
Germany: The "Frauenfrage"and the 81 See for example Juliet Mitchell, Woman's
FemaleVote' in RichardBessel and E J Estate, (Penguin, 1971).
Feuchtwanger(eds), Social Change and 82 See article, 'West Germany: Big Upsurge of
PoliticalDevelopmentin WeimarGermany, Neo-Nazi Activity' in People's Democracy,
(London, 1981),p 155. July 2, 1989.
57 See Section III of this paper. 83 For details see Uma Chakravarti,'Whatever
58 Curiouslyno seriousattemptseemsto have Happened to the Vedic Dasi? Orientalism,
beenmadeto calculatetheabsolutenumber Nationalism and a Script for the Past' in
of womenwho votedfor the Nazisin July Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid (eds),
1932. Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial
59 See JanetSilanenand MichelleStanworth History, (Kali for Women, New Delhi,
(eds), Women and the Public Sphere, 1989), pp 27-87.
(Hutchinsonand Co Ltd, London, 1984). 84 Ibid, p 56.
This book gives a theoreticalargument 85 See Section II of this paper.
about how women have always been 86 For a good analysis see Kamla Bhasin, Ritu
thoughtof as more'emotional'ratherthan Menon and Abha Bhaiya, 'Why Women
rationalas far as electoralpoliticsgoes. Fear the Fundamentalists' in The Times of
60 Grunberger,op cit, p 117. India, Sunday Review,January20,1991, p 1.
61 JoachinrC Fest, The Face of the Third 87 V D Savarkar, Bhartiya Itihas ke Chhah
Reich, (Harmondsworth,1972),p 401. Swarnim Prishta, (in Hindi), (Rashtra
62 Ibid, p 402. Dharma Pustak Prakashan, Lucknow),
63 Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf,'trans Ralph Vol 2, pp 45-53.
Mankeim,(London, 1969),p 167. 88 This appears in a pamphlet of VHP titled
64 ClaudiaKoonz,Mothersin theFatherland- 'Chetavani-2: Desh Khatare Mein' (in
Women,the Family and Nazi Politics, Hindi).
(JonathanCape, 1987). 89 Vijay Kumar Melhotra, Navbharat Times,
65 Ibid, p 87., (in Hindi), October 4, 1990, p 4.
66 Richard J Evans, Comrades and Sisters, 90 Quoted in Dina Nath Mishra, RSS Myth
op cit, pp 169-79. and Reality, (Vikas Publishing, New Delhi,
67 Arguments taken from Evans, ibid, 1980),p 136. For details about the way com-
pp 172-73. munal organisations in India look at the
68 Ibid, p 174. woman's question see Ish N Mishra,
69 Forthis point see Evans,ibid:and Koonz, 'Gender-Bias in Communal Ideologies' in
Mothers in Fatherland, op cit. Third World Studies, August-Spetember,
70 See Section II of this paper. 1989, pp 37-50.
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