German women in the 1920s had several rights and freedoms which most other women did not have. They had the right to vote. Women working for the government got the same pay as men. Many entered the law and medicine on the same footing as men. Under Nazi rule, however, they lost these gains. They were forced back into traditional roles as wives and mothers. Shortly after coming to power in 1933, Hitler made a law for the Encouragement of Marriage. It is said that the government would give all newly married couples a loan of 1000 marks -- the equivalent of nine months wages. When their first child was born they could keep a quarter of the money. On the birth of their second child they could keep the second quarter. They could keep the third quarter on the birth of a third child, and the entire amount on the birth of a fourth child. The marriage loan system encouraged many young people to marry early. As a result, the number of marriages rose from half a million in 1932 to three-quarters of a million in 1934. It did not, however, result in more babies. Most couples continued to have families of two children.
Ten years later, in 1943, the Nazi leaders planned another law to encourage people to have children -- but this law was very different : "t;All single and married women up to the age of 35 who do not already have four children should be obliged to produce four children by racially pure ... German men. Whether these men are married is without significance. Every family that already has four children must set the husband free for this action". This new law never came into effect, but it shows us exactly what the Nazi leaders thought about women : their job was to bear as many children as possible. In Nazi eyes, a woman's most important function was to bear children, preferably boys. Germany's birth-rate in 1933 was sinking fast, so the Nazis needed to reverse that in order to provide the army with more soldiers. Women in Nazi Germany therefore found themselves being forced to stay at home.
Within months of coming to power, many women doctors and civil servants were sacked from their jobs. Over the next few years, the number of women teachers was gradually reduced. From 1936 onwards women could no longer be judges or prosecutors, nor could they serve on juries. Instead of going out to work, women were asked to stick to the "three K's" -- Kinder, Kirche und Kuche, which means "children, church and kitchen". Even at home, women were not free to do as they liked. The Nazi Party tried to stop them from following fashions. Make-up and wearing trousers were frowned upon. Hair was to be arranged either in a bun or in plaits, but not dyed or permed. Slimming was discouraged because being slim was not thought to be good for child-bearing. The only thing that women were actively encouraged to do was to have children. Every 12 August, the birthday of Hitler's mother, the Motherhood Cross was awarded to the women who had most children. Goebbels hammered home the message that it was the duty of every German girl to marry and produce a large family of children who would serve the state. The government awarded fertile mothers with medals : the bronze cross for four children, the silver for six and the gold for eight. From the baby's first story book, the German mother was expected to be training her son to be a soldier and her daughter to be the mother of a soldier. The government also set up homes for unmarried mothers. These were called Lebensborn -- The Spring of Life -- and could be recognised by a white flag with a red dot in the middle. The unusual thing about these maternity homes was that they were brothels as well. An unmarried woman could go there with the aim of becoming pregnant and would be introduced to "racially pure" S.S. men. However, not every woman was encouraged to have babies. A Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring ordered that women "unfit" to be mothers must be sterilised. By 1937 almost 100,000 women had been sterilised.
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