This fascinating book examines the position of women under the Nazis. The National Socialist movement was essentially male-dominated, with a fixed conception of the role women should play in society; while man was the warrior and breadwinner, woman was to be the homemaker and childbearer. The Nazi obsession with questions of race led to their insisting that women should be encouraged by every means to bear children for Germany, since Germany’s declining birth rate in the 1920s was in stark contrast with the prolific rates among the 'inferior' peoples of eastern Europe, who were seen by the Nazis as Germany’s foes. Thus, women were to be relieved of the need to enter paid employment after marriage, while higher education, which could lead to ambitions for a professional career, was to be closed to girls, or, at best, available to an exceptional few. All Nazi policies concerning women ultimately stemmed from the Party’s view that the German birth rate must be dramatically raised.

Contents

Introduction 1. Emancipation and Reaction after the Great War 2. Marriage and Motherhood 3. Birth Control and Unmarried Motherhood 4. Women’s Employment: Expansion and Opposition 5. Women’s Employment: Encouragement and Resistance 6. Girl’s Senior Schooling in the 1930s 7. Nazi Policy towards Girl Students 8. Progress, Prejudice and Purge in the Professions 9. Coordination and Consolidation in the Professions 10. Women and German Society in the 1930s