Impact of Kinder, Küche, Kirche

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Kinder, Küche, Kirche

Kinder, Küche, Kirche was the Nazi’s slogan for women. It means ‘children, kitchen, church’.

Nazi vision of womanhood

The Nazis espoused a conservative vision of womanhood.

Women’s role

For the Nazis, women contributed to the Third Reich through bearing children.
They were expected to produce and raise their children.
This was part of the Nazi aim to create the Volksgemeinschaft (an Aryan master race).
Pine: “The Nazi state aimed to mould the family into ‘a breeding and rearing institution”.

The birth rate

The Nazis were preoccupied with the size of the German population.
They wanted to increase the birth rate.
Goebbels: “The goal is not: 'children at any cost' but: 'racially worthy, physically and mentally unaffected children of German families.”

Policies to Implement Kinder, Küche, Kirche

To implement these policies, marriage and motherhood were incentivised.

Gleischaltung

NSF:
- Nazi Women’s Organisation. Coordinated all existing women’s organisation to ensure they were in line with Nazi policy and philosophy.
Reich Mothers Service:
- Looked after pregnant women and young mothers, including those who were unmarried.
DFW German Women’s Enterprise:
- The DFW ran Mothers’ School, teaching women how to be mothers and housewives, in line with Nazi ideology.
Gertrud Scholtz-Klink was the leader of all Nazi women’s organisations.

Laws and policies restricting women

1933: Law for the Reduction of Unemployment. Marriage loans were given to women who gave up their job or remained unemployed.
1933: Women were banned from top civil service and medical jobs. Guidelines issued in October instructed the appointment of male applicants for teaching and civil service positions where equally qualified men and women had applied.
1936: Women were banned from being lawyers or judges.
University places for women were restricted to 10%.

Policies to increase Aryan births

1933: Law for the Encouragement of Marriage gave newly-weds loans.
Higher-taxes for childless couples. In 1938, divorce was made easier, with the aim of freeing unproductive couples to find partners with whom to have children.
Information on contraception was restricted; penalties for abortion were raised.
Propaganda: Educating girls to be mothers; the Motherhood Cross (a reward for having lots of children).
The Lebensborn programme was set up in 1935. The state set up places where Aryan women could become pregnant by SS men.

Impact of Nazi policies on women

Whilst many women bought into the Nazi ideal of womanhood, the Nazis did not succeed in their aims. The birth rate stagnated and the number of women in the workplace increased.

Impact on the birth rate

The average number of children per marriage fell from 3.6 in 1933 to 3.3 in 1939.
The birth rate rose slightly compared with the depression (1929-33) but could have been due to economic optimism.

Impact of Nazi women’s organisations

Nazi women’s organisations gave many girls and women more opportunities.

Impact on women

Most women were in low-paid, hard work and welcomed the financial incentives to marry and have children.
Health care and support for pregnant women and new mothers improved.
Women lost their roles in professional jobs and higher education.
Frevert (1988): Life for women did not change hugely. Women gained more opportunities.

Contradictions

The number of women in the workforce actually increased, so women in non-professional jobs were not restricted.
Women working outside the home: 4.2 million in 1933; 6.2 million in 1939. This was 35% of married women aged 16-65.
Nazi policy to women was contradicted by the need to mobilise the economy for war. In 1938, the Nazis introduced Year of Duty (Pflichtjahr), where unmarried women were required to work.
Whilst the Nazis emphasised the family, they liberalised divorce laws (so that partners in an infertile couple could remarry) and supported unmarried mothers. This was because their priority was raising the birth rate.

Repressive or empowering?

Traditionally, historians presented women as victims of the Nazi regime.
However, revisionists have argued that women internalised conservative tropes of womanhood and supported the Third Reich’s aims.

Historical assessment

Paul Ginsborg (2000): Official policy for regimes was that married women could not work outside the home but economic realities meant that it was not effectively enforced. Nevertheless, housewives in Nazi Germany were 'encouraged to celebrate their domestic role'. The weekly 'stew day' offered them the chance to contribute to the regime.

Primary evidence

Hitler gave a speech at Nuremberg in September 1934 about "separate spheres": 'We do not find it right when the woman presses into the world of the man. Rather we find it natural when these two worlds remain separate . . . To the one belongs the power of feeling, the power of the soul . . .'

1Political & Governmental Change, 1918-1989

1.1Creation & Collapse of Weimar, 1918-1932

1.1.1Creation of a Republic

1.1.2Strengths & Weaknesses of Weimar Constitution

1.1.3Overcoming Challenges to the Constitution

1.1.4The Great Depression

1.1.5The Collapse of Democracy

1.1.6The Collapse of Democracy 2

1.1.7Hitler Becomes Chancellor

1.2Nazi Dictatorship, 1933-1945

1.2.1Establishing a Dictatorship

1.2.2Consolidating Power

1.2.3Nature of Government

1.2.4Government in Wartime

1.2.5Top Grade AO2/3 - Political & Governmental Change

1.3Return to Democratic Government, 1945-1989

1.3.1Creation of the FRG, 1945-1949

1.3.2Consolidation Under Adenauer

1.3.3Consolidation Under Erhard

1.3.4Maintaining Stability Under Brandt

1.3.5Maintaining Stability Under Schmidt

1.3.6Maintaining Stability Under Kohl

1.3.7Top Grade AO2/3 - Return to Democratic Government

2Opposition, Control & Consent 1918-1989

2.1Opposition to Government, 1918-1989

2.1.1Impact of Versailles

2.1.2Political Extremism & Crises, 1918-1932

2.1.3Opposition & Dissent in Nazi Germany, 1933-1945

2.1.4Political Dissent from the Left, 1949-1989

2.1.5Political Dissent from the Right, 1949-1989

2.1.6Top Grade AO2/3 - Opposition to Government 1918-89

2.2Controlling the People, 1918-1989

2.2.1Attempts to Control Extremism

2.2.2Repression, 1933-1945

2.2.3Censorship & Propaganda, 1933-1945

2.2.4De-Nazification Policies of Western Allies, 1945

2.2.5Constitutional & Legal Response to Extremism, 1949

2.3Popular Support, 1918-1989

2.3.1The Nature of Support for the Weimar Government

2.3.2Support for the Nazi Regime

2.3.3The Nature of Support for Democracy, 1945-1989

2.3.4Top Grade AO2/3 - Controlling the People

3Economic Developments & Policies, 1918-1989

3.1Reacting to Economic Challenges, 1918-1932

3.1.1Economic Crises & Government Response, 1918-1923

3.1.2Economic Loans, 1924-1928

3.1.3Policies for Recovery, 1924-1929

3.1.4The Great Depression

3.1.5Change in Living Standards

3.1.6Top Grade AO2/3 - Reacting to Economic Challenges

3.2Controlling the Economy, 1933-1945

3.2.1Attempting Economic Recovery

3.2.2Creating a Command Economy

3.2.3Change in Living Standards

3.2.4Impact of War

3.2.5Impact of War 2

3.2.6Top Grade AO2/3 - Controlling the Economy

3.3Creating the Social Market Economy, 1945-1989

3.3.1Economic Recovery, 1945-1955

3.3.2The Economic Miracle, 1955-1966

3.3.3Surviving the Recession, 1960-1969

3.3.4The Oil Crisis

3.3.5Integration into the European Economy

3.3.6Change in Living Standards

3.3.7Top Grade AO2/3 - Creating Social Market Economy

4Aspects of Life, 1918-1989

4.1Attitudes Towards Women, 1918-1989

4.1.1Role & Status of Women in the Weimar Republic

4.1.2Impact of Kinder, Küche, Kirche

4.1.3Impact of WW2 on Women

4.1.4Role & Status of Women in the FRG

4.1.5Top Grade AO2/3 - Attitudes Towards Women

4.2Education & Cultural Developments, 1918-1989

4.2.1Education in Weimar

4.2.2Cultural Experimentation in Weimar

4.2.3Education Under the Nazis

4.2.4Nazi Culture

4.2.5Education in the FRG

4.2.6Generational Conflict

4.2.7Top Grade AO2/3 - Education & Cultural Development

4.3Position of Ethnic Minorities, 19189-1989

4.3.1Ethnic Minorities in the Weimar Republic

4.3.2Nazi Racial Policies, 1933-1939

4.3.3Nazi Racial Policies During the War

4.3.4Ethnic Minorities in the FRG

4.3.5Top Grade AO2/3 - Position of Ethnic Minorities

5Historical Interpretations

5.1Influence of German History

5.1.1Influence of German History

5.2Hitler & Foreign Policy

5.2.1Hitler & Foreign Policy

5.3Contribution of Other Nations to WW2

5.3.1Weak Nations

5.3.2Appeasement

5.3.3The Rise of Fascism

5.4Reasons for Invading Poland

5.4.1Reasons for Invading Poland

5.4.2Top Grade AO2/3 - Historical Interpretation

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