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Nazi policies towards women and the young
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The Nazis wanted women to be mothers and young people to be loyal Nazis. Both groups were targeted by laws, organisations and propaganda.
Women and the family
The Nazi ideal: Kinder, Küche, Kirche (children, kitchen, church).
Marriage and family: the 1933 Law for the Encouragement of Marriage gave loans to couples, and part of the loan was cancelled for each child. The Mother's Cross rewarded large families.
Employment: women were pushed out of professions such as law and medicine, though more were needed in work from the late 1930s.
Appearance: women were encouraged to avoid make-up and trousers and to look natural.
Marriage and family: the 1933 Law for the Encouragement of Marriage gave loans to couples, and part of the loan was cancelled for each child. The Mother's Cross rewarded large families.
Employment: women were pushed out of professions such as law and medicine, though more were needed in work from the late 1930s.
Appearance: women were encouraged to avoid make-up and trousers and to look natural.
The Hitler Youth
Boys joined the Hitler Youth: sports, camping, marching and military training.
Girls joined the League of German Maidens: fitness and preparing to be mothers.
Membership became compulsory by law (1936, tightened in 1939). Other youth groups were banned.
Girls joined the League of German Maidens: fitness and preparing to be mothers.
Membership became compulsory by law (1936, tightened in 1939). Other youth groups were banned.
Education
Teachers had to join the Nazi Teachers' League and teach Nazi ideas; Jewish teachers were dismissed.
Curriculum: more PE; history taught German greatness; race studies taught Nazi racial ideas; girls studied domestic science.
Textbooks and even maths problems carried Nazi propaganda.
Curriculum: more PE; history taught German greatness; race studies taught Nazi racial ideas; girls studied domestic science.
Textbooks and even maths problems carried Nazi propaganda.
Explain why the Nazis wanted to control young people.
- Young people were the future of the 'Thousand Year Reich'.
- Loyal youths would become loyal soldiers and mothers.
- So the Nazis controlled schools and youth groups to shape their beliefs.
Answer: To create a generation of loyal Nazis to secure the regime's future.
Women: Kinder, Küche, Kirche; marriage loans, Mother's Cross, pushed out of professions. Young: Hitler Youth and League of German Maidens, compulsory by law; schools with Nazi teachers, race studies and more PE.
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