Here is the achievements of German women during World War II

Here is the achievements of German women during World War II

"We have a generation of healthy men - and we, the National Socialists, Germany will not create any training for women grenade launchers or any body of women snipers" Adolf Hitler September 1936

Women in Nazi Germany were subject to Nazi doctrines by the Nazi Party (NSDAP), being excluded from Germany's active political life, as well as from executive bodies and executive commissions.

While most other parties in Germany (Weimar Republic) had female candidates during the elections (and some were elected), the Nazi party did not. In 1933, Joseph Goebbels justified this position by explaining that "it is necessary to leave to men what belongs to men". Germany went from 37 deputies in Parliament, out of a total of 577, to none after the November 1933 election.

Although the Nazi Party decreed that "women could not be admitted either as party executives or on the Administrative Commission", this did not prevent several women from becoming members of the party. Nazi doctrine emphasized the role of the German man, highlighting his combat skills and camaraderie with each other.

In a society that was beginning to regard women and men as equals, Nazi policies were a major setback, forcing women to leave political life. Nazi policies regarding women were an aspect of their efforts to prevent what the new regime saw as the decay of the Weimar Republic. In their view, the Weimar regime, which they thought was Jewish in nature, seemed effeminate, as well as tolerant of homosexuality - the true antithesis of Germanic virility.

Heinrich Himmler declared about it in February 1937:

can only survive if supported by women, because men understand everything through reason while women understand everything through emotion. [...] The priests knew very well why they sent 5000 to 6000 women to the stake; because they were emotionally attached, doctrines and ancestral knowledge and were not prepared to abandon them, while men, due to their logical thinking, had already been reconciled with the fact that it was not worth resisting ".

Women lived in a regime characterized by a policy confined to the role of wife and mother, and excluding them from all positions of responsibility, particularly in the political and academic spheres.

In 1935, during a speech at the National Socialist Women Congress, Hitler declared, with regard to women's rights:

"In reality, the granting of so-called equal rights to women, as required by Marxism, does not confer equal rights, but constitutes the deprivation of rights, as they attract women to an area where they can only be inferior. This puts women in situations in which they cannot strengthen their position in relation to men and society - but that only weakens them. "

First, in the Nazi doctrine that concerned women, there was the notion of motherhood and procreation for those of childbearing age, the so-called BDM, German Girls' League (in German: Bund Deutscher Mädel), for girls aged 14 to 18 years old , and was the female equivalent of Hitler Youth.

The Nazi model woman did not have a career, but was responsible for the education of her children and the care of the home.

The Nazi woman had to conform to the German society desired by Adolf Hitler (Volksgemeinschaft), racially pure and physically robust. She did not work, living in the maternity cult and following the slogan of the ex-emperor William II of Germany: Kinder, Küche, Kirche, which means "Children, Kitchen, Church".

In a document published in 1934, The Nine Commandments of the Workers' Struggle, Hermann Goering bluntly summarizes the future role of German women: "Take a pot, a brush and a broom and marry a man". This was anti-feminism in the sense that the Nazis considered the political rights granted to women (access to high-level positions, for example) as incompatible with the nature of reproduction, the only role in which they could flourish and better serve the nation's interests. Thus, Magda Goebbels declared in 1933: "German women were excluded from three professions: the army, as in the rest of the world; the government; and the judiciary. If a German woman has to choose between marriage or career, she will always be encouraged to get married, because it is the best for a woman "

Fashion for women in Nazi Germany was problematic for members of the Nazi party. The Nazi government wanted to propagate the "Aryan" woman. In various posters and other forms of media, this ideal Nazi woman was strong, fertile and wore historically traditional German clothing. However, the Nazi authorities also did not want to stop the German clothing or fashion industries from making a profit, as the government also sought to create a consumer society based mostly on German national products. These differences in objectives often led to disparities in what was considered to be fashionable, nationalistic and politically correct for women in Nazi Germany.

During World War II, temporarily contradicting their past claims, the National Socialists changed policy and allowed women to join the German army.

Therefore, women were not assigned to combat units during the war, but were considered auxiliary military personnel, responsible for logistical and administrative duties in the missing areas due to the number of men sent for combat.

In 1945, there were 500,000 auxiliary women in the Wehrmacht (Wehrmachtshelferinnen), placed in the center of the army, the Luftwaffe (Air Force) and Kriegsmarine (Navy).

Half of them were volunteers, and the other half consisted of those who fulfilled the mandatory services linked to the war effort (Kriegshilfsdienst).

Its main functions were:

- Telephone, telegraph and transmission operators

-Administrative services such as typists and messengers

- In anti-air defense, such as listening equipment operators, searchlight operators, meteorological services, and assisting public defense personnel

-In military health services, such as volunteer nurses at the German Red Cross or other voluntary organizations.

In Nazi concentration camps, women had almost the same positions as men, they were the Aufseherin and, in general, belonged to the SS. They were guards, secretaries or nurses. They arrived in the camps before the war started, some of them trained since 1938 in Lichtenburg. This training was due to staffing needs following the growing number of political prisoners after the Crystal Night on 8 and 9 November 1938. After 1939, they received training at the Ravensbrück camp near Berlin. From modest backgrounds - low or middle class - these women had worked in traditional professions (hairdressers, teachers, etc.), while men had to do military service. Of the total of 55,000 guards in all Nazi camps, about 3,600 were women, however,

In addition to those resisters who were forced to accept the current situation for fear of being deported and exterminated because of their race, there were others who had a position against the Nazi regime. Women accounted for about 15% of resistance

A little more than half of the Righteous among the nations recognized by Yad Vashem are women. Although many of them acted in cooperation with other family members, some took the first step towards aid and acted independently to save the Jews.