Politics of Gender: Women in Nazi Germany Charu Gupta With the rise of National Socialism, in whose ideology the degradation and depersonalization of women was implicit, the process of women's emancipation in Germany suffered a setback. In addressing the larger question of what fascism does to gender this paper deals specifically with the image of women in Nazi ideology and whether this imagery underwent a change during the course of the second world war. It examines also the controversy surrounding the role of women in Hitler's rise to power and the voices of dissent. The paper concludes by drawing some partial Indian analogues to the portrayal of women in Nazi Germany, particularly the way communal organisa- tions look at women. I of Nazis, race and gender, racism and sexism where would the big world be if no-one are closely connected with each other. The wanted to look after the small world? How Introduction issue of motherhood went hand in hand with could the big world continue to exist, if there W I T H the coming of National Socialism, compulsory sterilisation and had a close was no-one to make the task of caring for the process of female emancipation was bearing to a sort of 'race hygiene' culture the small world the centre of their lives? No, reversed, her degradation and depersonalisa- It becomes important to study this aspect the big world rests upon this small world! tion became an element of German ideology' not only due to the emphasis on the sup- The big world cannot survive if the small posedly 'natural' or 'biological' domains of world is not secure,''7 The desirability of motherhood for all German women became the central issue women but also because here specifically Alfred Rosenberg, the self-proclaimed and family was seen as the germ cell of the traditionalism and anti-feminism combined Nazi philosopher, represented the female sex effectively with racism. as the 'lyrical' pole, the male as the nation, class or volk. The lack of a com- The obsession with motherhood comes 'architectural! peting conceptual framework also con- tributed to the middle class's vulnerability out clearly in Nazi writings. Just as men Oppression of women in Nazi Germany served the state by fighting, so women served in fact furnishes the most extreme case of to Nazi family ideology. As is stated: "The by bearing children. The theme of childbirth anti-feminism in the 20th century. There was petit bourgeois is asocial: the fellow human as an analogue to battle was a popular one a multiplicity of responses towards women to him is human material, usable subject in Nazi ideology—'Every child that a woman and the family, i e, multiple exploitation and matter which may be manipulated... His brings into the world is a battle, a battle simultaneous repressive protection. girl as his beloved is sexual animal, as German woman she is a mechanical womb; waged for the existence of her peopled But A hysterical protective anxiety on behalf enthroned as heroic patriarch, the man Nazi leaders were aware that the exclusive of guileless German women was one of the towers over the family? 1 function of childbearing demeaned women hallmarks of Hitler's fantasies on the sub- With communalism and fundamentalism in the eyes of some critics. Thus Hitler felt ject of 'Jewish pollution of the German in India acquiring almost fascistic overtones, compelled to proclaim in his 1935 Party Day racial stock', etc, in Mein Kampf and it the current relevance of this topic cannot be speech to the Frauenschaft, "When our op- formed one of the most persistent themes ponents say: You degrade women by assign- in later Nazi anti-scmitic propaganda. The overlooked. What does fascism do to ing them no other task than that of purity of the blood, the numerical power, gender? The specific questions that have childbearing, then I answer that it is not the rigour of the race were ideological goals been dealt in this paper are the image of degrading to a woman to be a mother. On of such high priority that all women's acti- women in Nazi ideology and whether this the contrary, it is her greatest honour. There vities other than breeding were relegated in imagery changed during the second world is nothing nobler for a woman than to be party rhetoric to secondary significance.' war? Was it the women's vote that brought Hitler to power? What were the voices of the mother of the sons and daughters of the There was in fact a close connection bet- protest? Lastly, one cannot help but draw people.'' 5 Gregor Strasser wrote that ween Nazi pro-natal ism for 'desirable' births some partial analogues with the way com- National Socialism intended to restore the and its anti-natalism for 'undesirable' ones. munal organisations in India look at women. natural order, to accord women the respect Women were thus hailed as 'mothers of the they deserved as mothers and housewives.6 race', or, in stark contrast, vilified, as the II Of course, this went hand in hand with ones guilty of 'racial degeneration'. There an extreme separation of spheres for men was a complex relationship between racism M o t h e r h o o d a n d Sterilisation as and women. There was a distancing of the and sexism and they were not just two forms Racism and Sexism household from the 'productive' sphere, a of exploitation. Before going into the Women appeard in the Nazi world view, point that 1 will discuss later The notion o f specificities of this, one or two points must primarily as mothers—either as Aryan 'private woman' and 'public man'; mascu- be made clear. mothers, to be encouraged to have more line/feminine; strong/weak dichotomy; was When the Nazis came to power, they were children and to be made fit to do so by the a part of this concept of sexual polarity. The confronted by a declining birth rate.9 They new emphasis on physical training which the married pair came to be viewed as com- stated that the problem stemmed from the Nazis introduced in schools, workplaces and plementary: husband representing strength, women's movement. Such women's organi- organisations such as the League of German domination, the world; the wife weakness, sations based on bourgeois liberalism were Girls; or as 'inferior' mothers, as Jewish, sexuality, subordination, the home, i e, her abhorrent to the Nazis. It was believed that gypsy, handicapped or other 'degenerate' supposedly 'natural' or 'biological' domains. the women's movement was part of an inter- mothers and potential mothers, to be This stereotypical role clearly fixed women's national Jewish conspiracy to subvert the discouraged or prevented from having position in the home and in the family. German family and thus destroy the German children and to be rigidly separated from the Thus Adolf Hitler stated, " I f we say the race.10 The movement, it claimed was en- favoured majority of the population. 2 world of the man is the state, the world of couraging women to assert their economic Thus reproduction, or as Gisela Bock the man is his commitment, we could then independence and to neglect their proper prefers to call it, 'the reproductive aspect of perhaps say that the world of the women is task of producing children. It was spreading women's unwaged housework', was directly a smaller world for her world is her husband, the feminine doctrines of pacifism, effected by state policy.3 Thus in the context her family, her children and her home. But democracy and 'materialism'. By encourag- WS-40 Economic and Political Weekly April 27, 1991  ing contraception and abortion and so distinction of shifting justification for women deviated from the norm of 'accept- lowering the birth rate, it was attacking the sexism from religion to bio-medicine, able' gender behaviour. Proper and orderly very existence of the German people. Thus thereby, taking it out of the realm of pre- German workers of either sex were less likely the feminist movement incorporated in the judice and putting it within the confines of to become victims of sterilisation; 'race BDF, was defamed as a tool of the 'Jewish 'scientific' objectivity. The interpretations hygiene' contributed to the maintenance of world conspiracy' to destroy the unity and medicine offers are basically to legitimise the the class structure as well as the affirmation existence of the German people.11 discrimination of women and the-r con- of the Nazis' standards of proper gender The Nazi policy thus took specific tinuous oppression under the guise of behaviour.20 measures to Increase the birth rate of the biological determinism. 15 This partially The use of force against those who did not pure Aryan race. Various medals, tax con- helps in explaining the phenomenon of submit freely, was an accepted norm. The cessions and other privileges were conferred scientific racism and sexism in Nazi minister of interior Wilhelm Frick announc- upon mothers. A special marriage loan pro- Germany. ed, "We must have the courage again to gramme was introduced as early as the sum- To come back to the anti-abortion cam- grade our people according to its genetic mer of 1933 to eliminate women from the paign in Nazi Germany, on May 26, 1933, values". gainful labour force and to encourage two penal laws were introduced that pro- Popular vernacular expressed the situation marriage and procreation. It was an effec- hibited the availability of abortion facilities pungently. Eugenic sterilisation was called tive instrument which promised interest-free and services. The Nazis banned contracep- Hitlerschnitt (Hitler's cut), thereby linking loans to young racially fit couples about to tives, closed birth control clinics and increas- it to an anti abortion policy which refused marry as long as the woman promised not ed the penalties for abortion. From 1935 on, abortions to women who had already gone to work until the loan was repaid. Richard doctors and midwives were obliged to notify through two previous ceasarian operations. M Titmuss described the campaign as "the the regional state health office of every mis- Only after three of these did a woman have most tremendous experiment ever attemp- carriage. Women's names and addresses were the right to abortion and then also only on ted consciously to change biological then handed over to the police who investi- the condition that she also accepted the trends".12 gated the cases suspected of being in Hiiterschnitt. 21 Also the campaign for In an attempt to encourage births without actuality abortions. 16 sterilisation had its subtle appeal to naive spending money, the government honoured There was a gradual rise in the birth rate belief in modern science, social rationality, prolific German mothers in a variety of after 1933 and the Nazi population planners and planning. 22 Its criteria of inferiority ways. Mother's Day, an idea which had saw it as proof of the completely voluntary had at the centre concepts of 'value' and spread from the United States to Germany and spontaneous confidence of the German 'valuelcssness' that were related to the social in 1923, became a major holiday; even at the people in the Reich, the Fuhrer, the future, or racial 'body' and its productivity. end of the war, the party found the resources a confession which could not be more Now one comes to the crucial point that, to celebrate Mother's Day with pomp and beautiful than, in the form of children of transcending older political partisanships, circumstance. The government awarded an confidence. prohibition of abortion and alongside com- Honour Cross to prolific mothers and However, this cannot be accepted fully. pulsory sterilisation, compulsory mother- ordered the Hitler Youth to salute women Nazi and non-Nazi demographers agree on hood and prohibition of motherhood—far wearing the medal.13 the limited extent of the rise in the birth from contradicting each other—had now Later on in the Third Reich (i e, in the late rate.17 Also the increase does not seem to become two sides of a coherent policy com- 1930s) breeding camps' were established have been'the result of Nazi politics and bining sexism and racism. where selected, unmarried 'racially valuable' goals. As economic conditions improved, This also went hand-in-hand with the Germans were sent for the purpose of im- voluntary births increased. One must also Na/i image of seeing the woman as a mother pregnating the women. Those who did not forget the coercive measure of pro- and not as a sexual parasite. She was the become pregnant could await childbirth in natalism: forced labour for mothers through breeder of races: 'To breed means to create, special maternity homes for unmarried the prohibition of ahortion for valuable, by means of deliberation and planned mothers which the Nazis provided under the 'German-blooded' women. In fact, there is utilisation of all aids, a generation which at so-called Lebensborn scheme. In addition, some evidence, though locally limited, thai least is not below the value of the progenitor, towards the end of the war, Hitler was even after 1932 the rise in births nearly equalled and if possible, will improve the stock from thinking of introducing selective polygamy the decline in abortions.18 generation to generation!'23 In fact, in Mein for the purpose of making up the loss of A necessary corollary of anti-abortion was Kampf Hitler glorified the brutality of men in the war, 'improving the race' and race hygienic sterilisation. The glorification marital union for the sake of breeding. rewarding the all-male elite of the Thousand of motherhood, which received public sup- Going by the method of the cattle breeder, Year Reich. port, found its necessary counterpart, from Richard Walter Datre (Hitler's Reich leader However, the most sexist and also the the Nazi perspective, in compulsory sterilisa- of the peasants and minister of agriculture) most effective was the anti-abortion cam- tion for the sake of racial purity. 19 A new divided girls into four classes: those well- paign. This acquires a special significance statute was introduced in late spring 1933 to suited for procreation, those less well-suited, in the light of the recent agitation witnessed legalise eugenic sterilisation and prohibit those hardly suited, and those unfit. 24 in the US between the pro-choice and anti- voluntary sterilisation. Beyond this, a As a soulless and anti-intellectual move- abortion groups. The partial victory of the cabinet, headed by Hitler passed a law on ment, National Socialism could conceive of anti-abortion lobby in this is a great threat July 14, 1933, against propagation of 'lives love only in terms of lust and procreative to the Womens' movement today. It not only unworthy of life' called the 'Law for the mechanics. Thus the main meaning and pur- denies women a fundamental right over their Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Off- pose of marriage was the 'multiplication and bodies and reproductive life, it "also reduces spring'. According to official German preservation of race and kind! In one of his them to mere child-bearers.14 statistics, more than 5,00,000 people were nightly reveries, Hitler asked rhetorically: "Is It has been argued that birth control sterilised in the last few years; of these 30,000 there a more lovely consecration of love, policies and abortion laws have generally cases resulted in death. There were also 5,000 pray, than the birth of a handsome babe played a powerful role as a reinforcers and 'eugenic abortions' from 1933 to 1939. glowing with health? . .. Nature blesses the perpetuators of sexist ideology. They The victims of sterilisation were evenly love of two beings by giving them a child.. . monitor a woman's 'reproductive and pro- divided between men and women, and came To my way of thinking the real ideal is that ductive' duties. They also reflect social typically from the lower classes. Of the two beings should unite for life and that attitudes towards women, viewing them women sterilised, servants, unskilled or poor their love should be magnified by the primarily as mothers or as potential workers, prostitutes, unmarried women and presence of children." 25 mothers. In fact, medicine has the dubious most of all Jews were overrepresented. These In fact female sexuality has always been Economic and Political Weekly April 27, 1991 WS-41  a source of concern in all patriarchal duced experiences and images of horror that ed to argue that women in Germany in the societies. Medical theories of the late 19th later intensified male demands for the 1920s, despite gaining the vote and other and early 20the century drew a rigid distinc- soothing and procreative qualities they rights, and despite the image portrayed on tion between reproductivity and sexuality. It expected of women. In contrast the inter-war film, in literature and (not least) in historical was believed that the development of years brought into question women's gains, writing, "lost status and relative indepen- reproductive powers and of the material in- especially their right to work. The decades dence and, quite probably, a corresponding stincts could only take place when sexuality of the 1920s and 1930s saw renewed efforts sense of competence and self worth". 32 itself was suppresed. Women were told (by to remove married women from the work- During the Weimer Republic, the most bit- medical theoreticians) that sexual feelings force as 'double earners'. ter contest for jobs occured in industry and were "unnatural, unwomanly, pathological Demobilisation removed thousands of service. New jobs were created but increasing and probably detrimental to the supreme women from their wartime jobs and numbers of lower middle class and working function of reproduction". 2 6 However, retracted others into lower paying 'female' class women worked in low-level, dead-end, feminists have argued that mothering is part areas, By creating unemployment and job white-collar jobs, and those who worked in of the operation of male domination: A competition, demobilisation intensified the industry did the most routine and underpaid woman's lack of control of reproduction is antagonism between the sexes.29 Nazi work. These jobs were thus less rewarding part of the social relations that define her Germany successfully fed on the post-war not least because they involved a trivialisa oppression.27 disillusionment to push forward its ideal for tion of the female image, in the process of Nazi Germany along with this emphasis women. which German women came to approximate on motherhood considered the ideal woman The Nazis, in the 1920s and early 1930s, the helpless, clinging and coy sex object. 33 to be confined to Kinder, Kurche, Ktrche called for the removal of women from all Also, this had increased the pressure of (Children, Kitchen, Chruch). Thus it was areas of political and economic life and the women's work and some women were firmly believed that the major influence of reversal of the gains women had made since anxious to leave the exploitation of the women in society was exerted through the the beginning of the German feminist move- workplace and take care of their respon- medium of the family, the basic cell of the ment in the 1860s.30 sibilities as wives and mothers.34 state (called keimzelle). Nazi ideology Before going into the specificities of this, At the same time, these new jobs were granted women importance not only in the it is important and necessary to give a brief more conspicuous than the older jobs. It was family, but also as guardians of racial purity. background and examine the position of erroneously believed at that time that women It was for this reason that the Nazi image women in Germany after the end of the first were achieving economic success by displac- of women was not a simple reconstruction world war. ing men. Recent research has proven other- of the Victorian ideal. There was great After and end of the war, there was a wise.35 But the political significance of the emphasis on her health, strength and grace. numerical preponderence of women over contemporary view and the backlash that it Thus she was not frail and helpless, but men. Some 1.7 million German male soldiers created remains. What fascism has taught strong, vigorous, athletic. Thispoint will be had been killed in the first world war. Thus, is that myths are important and real if they discussed in another part of my paper in the years from 1916 (mobilisation for the war influence how people act. Even during some detail. A l l this was sustained and held effort) to 1929 (onset of the world economic demobilisation at the end of the war, there together by a barrage of propaganda in all crisis) was a period of intense and rapid tran- had been public outcry against women's forms. sition in the employment patterns of those work. It gathered momentum in the un- What emerges from the above is the fact women who did not work outside the settled economic conditions of the early that Nazi racism and sexism concerned all home.31 postwar period and resurfaced when women; the 'inferior' as well as the Germany actually embodied a profound massive unemployment, caused by the Great Superior'. Racism was used to impose sexism contradiction. On the one hand, the new Depression of 1929 in the United States, in the form of unwaged houSework on Constitution of the Weimar Republic ex- appeared in Germany. Superior' women. On the other hand the pressed the best of liberal principles pushed In reality, it was the process of job ra- 'inferior' women became targets of negative in the direction of democracy. Guaranteeing tionalisation that made women's work seem race hygiene. In fact, modern sexism was equality before the law and full political threatening to men. In a burst of effort established, below the ideological surface of rights for women, as well as labour protec- beginning in the mid-1920s, Germany at- theories of 'woman's nature' and the 'cult tion, it seemed to offer proof of the triumph- tempted to discard old plants and equipment of true womanhood'. Thus in Nazi Germany, of feminism—women were guaranteed equal and to modernise both industry and racism and sexism went hand-in-hand and access to public life. On the other hand, agriculture in order to remain competitive all women were equally involved in both, but Germany became the home of the most anti- in the world market. Rationalisation entailed with different experiences. They were modern, violent and racist movement in the introduction of labour-saying machines, segregated through dual sides of the same inter-war Europe. Thus the lower middle standardisation of parts, and a flow produc- policy, a division that also worked to class revolt of the Nazis appeared to roll tion design that moved goods more swiftly segregate their forms of resistance to sexism back the tide and claims of the Republic to along an assembly line, The new machinery as well as racism.28 uphold women's equality. and techniques invaded not only the fac- Thus it was the reproductive capacities of However, there are differences of opinion tories but even the offices. It meant that women that formed the core of the Nazi pro- among feminists and historians as to work became divided into smaller, simpler gramme as far as women were concerned. whether women in the Weimar Republic and more repetitive stages and permitted the But how was this imagery reconciled at the were actually as emancipated as one has lining up of unskilled cheap labour—the time of the war? tended to assume. cheapest labourers were women. Rationalisa- Throughout the life of the Repblic, there tion of production thus deskilled labour, Ill was a Rightist campaign which proclaimed restructured and in certain cases rigidified militant nationalism, coupled with anti- the sex-segregated labour market, while also Woman's Place in War semitism, as its hallmark. It denigrated undermining traditional hierarchies of Women's lives werealtered by both world women's rights, seeing the assumption of skill. 3 6 wars of the 20th century. By disrupting the non-traditional roles by women as 'un- However, what has been conclusively pro- normal lines of power and social activity, the German' as well. ved is the fact that women did not replace war opened up unparalleled opportunities In the field of employment also, the so- men; instead, they took jobs in expanding for women in work and family decision- called economic advancement dr 'emancipa- industries that had previously employed making and made their work experiences tion' of women left a lot to be desired. Thus women. Rationalisation did not significantly very different from men's. The war also pro- Renate Bridenthal, writing in 1973 was forc- increase the proportion of women in the WS-42 Economic and Political Weekly April 27, 1991  paid labour force. What it did was to effective argument to counter the Nazi The mainstream Nazi conception of women reorganise the labour market so as to tighten, ideology. The largest bourgeois feminist owed its flexibility to this principle, for the even institutionalise, the modern sexual divi- organisation was the BDF which to a large ideal Nazi woman owed service to the state sion of labour. 37 But their work was extent had opened up to the Right, But much above all else. definitely more 'observable' now. In popular worse was the failure of the SPD (Social The blend of traditional ideas and Nazi mentalities' the women's question became a Democratic Party) and the KPD (Com- principles which characterised the main- man's question and a political and an munist Party). The campaign against 'dou- stream image gave it the necessary resilience economic question; insofar as it aroused ble earners' in 1930 was supported even by to meet changed economic circumstances. general passions, leading to heated debates. theSPD. More important, no well-developed Also, the various measures that were Yet this view misses out one crucial point. alternative discourse existed among the left adopted were aimed initially not only to There were some gains made during this to compete with or counter the conceptual drive women away from employment but period but simultaneously a part of the framework provided by the Nazis on issues also in the direction of deskilling. A l l this feminist movement also became socially and of women's wage labour, political participa- had the potential to attract different groups politically conservative. The radicalisation tion or access to higher education. and these were points on which the interests of the feminist movement was superficial The demise of SPD influence the weaken- of various partially competing pressure and short-lived. The period of relative ing of trade unions, the stalemate in the groups converged—that of industry, which stabilisation that allowed this culture— Reichstag, the pressures of unemployment, wanted a cheap and disciplined labour alternatively experienced as threatening and and the failed agendas meant further dis- reserve for assembly-line work and typing; exhilarating—to flourish was short-lived. illusionment. This also brings into focus the that of middle-class men, who wanted to get Despite the continued numerical growth of weaknesses of the traditional Left in tackl- rid of female competition for middle or high feminist support, that support itself was ing gender specific problems, which left an level white collar jobs; that of middle-class becoming rapidly less liberal in character by opening which was very skillfully used by housewives who on the one hand sought 1914. The liberal institutions in the Weimar Nazism. confirmation of their roles within the home Republic were in fact extremely weak and The economic situation of Germany also and on the other wanted domestics; tfiat of fragile.38 played a crucial role in the success of Nazis. agriculture, which wanted labourers with no In this atmosphere of deteriorating Historically, the Nazi regime was partly the other choice of work; that of the regime, material conditions on the one hand and product and certainly the heir of the ra- which wanted a female population that some political benefits on the other, many tionalisation of industry which was follow- could reconcile the major goal of child bear- middle-class women's organisations pushed ed by economic depression and mass un- ing with readiness to perform diverse and towards a Rightist direction. 39 employment. For the first time, however, a vital tasks whenever men were in short The lower middle class revolt of the Nazis government came to power with an ideology supply.47 was bound to make an impact in such an at- that made sex-specific employment an The Nazi authors believed that the best mosphere. The Nazi regime had a more integral part of its programme. It did not situation for a woman was as full-time clearly defined and more self-conscious at- return sporadically to legal means to restore housewife and mother. She was the transmit- titude towards women than perhaps any the old 'balance1, as had many previous ter of German culture, guardian of racial other modern government. It was avowedly governments. Rather, it used a whole arsenal purity and supporter of national economic illiberal and protective in its aims. In their of instruments. policy. However, the employed woman was eyes, women were that part of the popula- There was direct intervention of the state by no means forgotten or totally rejected. tion on whom, if it was at all possible, novel, in the size and structure of the labour Thus it was stated that "no woman who out major and general hardships should not market. The depression had increased of personal preference, wants to take up a arbitrarily or continuously be inflicted. 40 unemployment and thus the campaign profession, will be prevented from doing Thus on the one occasion, referring to the against married women's employment so.. Germany, the great mother, embodied Social Democrats, Hitler wrote: "The so- increased.44 Also marriage loans were sanc- in National Socialism, loves and needs every called granting of equal rights which tioned. 45 In short, the ideology of the one of her daughters: the one by her child's Marxism demands, in reality does not grant "innate differences between men and cradle and the one behind the counter, the equal rights but constitutes a deprivation of women" and of 'sex-specific work' became one at the stove and the one at the lectern, rights; since it draws the woman into situa- something like an official doctrine. the one in the factory and the one in the tions that cannot strengthen her position vis- Yet, during the second world war, a grave laboratory, every one who works honestly a-vis both men and society—but only need was felt to employ women, since they and selflessly for the rise of our weakens it. 41 constiuted the largest available reserve of fatherland', 48 Thus motherhood and "work consistent workers. How was the Nazi ideology of con- Especially at the time of the second world with women's natural inclination", such as fining women to their homes or in 'proper' war, tradition was redifined and women were teaching small children, nursing, domestic jobs reconciled with this? Before proceeding, urged to be traditional by reclaiming their service, cooking, cleaning, were more to it is important to remember that basic ideas economic importance. Thus the official Nazi petty bourgeois Nazi tastes than female about the 'proper' roles of the sexes change women's magazine announced, "We see the emancipation, independence and competi- extremely slowly. But propaganda, through woman as the eternal mother of our people, tion with males. Here is how the ABC of popular media for public consumption, can but also as the working and fighting com- National Socialism expressed it: "German lead to sudden and temporary changes rade of the man!" One woman wrote that women want to be wives and'mothers... (usually imposed by economic or political women still belonged primarily to the home, They have no longing for the factory, no need) without challenging traditional but then proceeded to redifine 'home' to longing for the office, no longing for the assumptions about women's role in society include, 'Wherever Germany may need parliament. A cosy home, a laving husband This in part can explain the lack of change us!'49 and a flock of happy children is closer to in the status of women after the crisis is over. What was also crucial and central was the their heart" 42 Thus, the Nazi image of women seems to element of 'sacrifice'. This principle of Adolf Hitler stated, "The wonderful thing have remained relatively stable throughout sacrifice for the state justified discrimina- about nature and providence is that no con- the period. However economic determinants tion against employed women in the first flict between the sexes can occur as long as led to a shift in the Nazi policy, without a years of the Nazi regime as well as the en- each party performs the function prescrib- corresponding etiange in response to the couragement of employment after 1936.50 ed for it by nature" 43 'ideal'. 46 These shifts found their justifica- Also, according to another view, driven into Here it is imperative to state the failure tion in the National Socialist principle of the marriage and monotonous work, returned of the feminist organisations in providing an common good before the individual good. to the labour market by the narrowness and Economic and Political Weekly A p r i l 27, 1991 WS-43  dependence on the nuclear family and by and nationalist point of view, a world gone associates have been given an almost economic need, women provided the desired mad. 54 distorted twist. The stereotype of women as flexible assembly line proletariat that never Thus there seems to be some substance in emotional and submissive (which was could qualify for full social security and the statement that women's vote was crucial prevalent in European society before the first protection. 51 for the rise of Hitler. world war) is certainly reflected here. Also, But it must be remembered that Germany the sexism in such comments is very obvious. failed in mobilissing its women labour force IV It clearly shows the conservative social during the war, especially if one compares W o m e n : For o r Against? ideology of the period. Also, there was it with America. Germany's female labour perfectly orchestrated, propaganda which force increased by only 1 per cent from 1939 It is one of those classic questions that carefully stage-managed Hitler's rallies to to 1944 (Figure). Though the Nazis declared historians have asked and pondered over prove a particular point. that woman's place was in the war, their since the victory of Hitler. Was it really the The other reason which appears much mobilisation propaganda was not as forceful women's vote that brought Hitler to more plausible is the one presented by some (if more fori bright) as that of America. This power?55 Why did women support a move- feminists. Firstly, as I have shown women was due to a number of reasons. Hitler was ment that was so obviously anti-feminst? Or were not as emancipated in the Weimar opposed to conscription of women. Also did they really support it so massively as has Republic as one had tended to assume. Thus, Nazi propaganda expressed great concern been claimed? Were there no voices of pro' Hitler's views had a certain appeal for them. with protecting women from physical or test? If they were there, then what was the The strongest view seems to me to be the one mental strain that might endanger them as form they took? recently presented by Claudia Koonz.64 She mothers. A l l this resulted in a contused Unfortunately, while one has abundant explains the enthusiasm of millions of government policy towards the mobilising of material on the first set of questions, infor- women for Hitler's project due to the prac- women and an absence of concerted pro- mation regarding the second is extremely dif- tical social importance now accorded to the paganda campaigns. Also, the financial in- ficult to find. activities which they carried out anyway. To centive for women to go back to employment Hitler stated in 1933, "Women have be a mother for the Fatherland, to save was quite poor. Germany made no pretense always been among my staunchest sup- Germany, to put an end to want—the ideals of instituting an equal pay policy. 52 porters. They feel my victory is their interlocked, became synonymous with being However, inspite of this failure, the fact victory." 56 As I have stated before, women a woman. Consequently politics, military remains that for the Nazis the second world were numerically more in number after the affairs and science could be left to men, war was a total war, calling for total parti- war57 and thus they predominated in the because hearth and home did not simply cipation. A n d this called for sacrifices on electorate as well. There does seem some promise women something private but made the home front. Along with this, it is impor- prima facie justification for the belief that the familiar work of the private itself a tant to state a point that 1 have referred to the female vote was important as an element public sector. earlier, i e, the Nazi image of women was in the Nazis' success.58 Non-interference and the cultivation of not a simple reconstruction of the Victorian One of the most dubious but widely difference between the sexes—these were at ideal. The woman as mother was healthy accepted popular explanation for this once a promise and a practice on the basis and strong. The peasant woman who phenomenon is the supposed irrationality of of which women could erect their own laboured in the fields, cared for the garden women. This analysis fails to consider realm, sufficiently free and autonomous for and poultry, cooked the meals, cleaned the women's capacity for political thought and its explicit subordination to the male sphere house, and bore numerous strong healthy action. There is an alleged tendency for not to weigh so heavily. Common to all was children was a prime example of the Nazi women to make politial choices on the basis the enthusiasm for a specific women's ideal. of candidates' personal qualities rather than sphere, for motherhood as feminine con- The heroic woman in war-time was one by reference to issues. Thus women are tribution to the national community. They who could take on a man's work in an assumed to 'personalise' politics, denying its left politics to the men because they had emergency and write a courageous letter to political content.59 more important things to do, they fed 'the her husband at the front without knowing Thus Grunberger worte, " H i t l e r ' s holy flame of motherhood 1 , at last they from where her next meal would come. monkish persona engendered a great deal of could call one another 'sister'.65 Thus the sexual hysteria among women. not least centre of Koonz's book is not women's Thus Nazi ideology on women was, like among spinsters, who transmitted their hysterical enthusiasm at the sight of Hitler, Nazi ideology in general, a strange mixture repressed yearnings into tantrymosc a perspective familiar from many studies, of traditional conservative ideas, vague long- adoration" 60 Fest also stated, the "over- but the conviction they showed in carrying ings for a mythical past and acceptance of excited, distinctly hysterical tone" of Hitler's out ordinary daily tasks. the needs of a modern economy. The result meetings "sprang in the first place from the Another recent work by Richard J of the blending of ideas and the controversy excessive emotionalism of a particular kind Evans66 points to the fact that the feminist among Nazi theorists was the creation of an of elderly woman who sought to activate the movement itself in Germany had become ideal that reflected the conflicts and con- unsatisfied impulses within her in the tumult socially and politically conservative, largely fusion confronting a society in the process of mighty political demonstrations before Left-liberal and progressive before 1914, by of modernisation. the ecstatic figure of Hitler", 61 1930 BDF had opened up to the Right. The Nazis used biology to explain every Some feminist historians, particularly in In the same stream it has been suggested twist and turn of changing labour policy Germany, have been reluctant to accept that that this was not one-sided. It has been with regard to women, ultimately relying on the feminist movement at this time, like other stated that Hitler exploited and manipulated a supposed material instinct to keep women "specific female qualities, such as capacity bourgeois liberal associations, became from being fully committed to the perma- for self-surrender or demand for authority vulnerable to the lure of Nazi ideology. nent labour force-and at the same time and order''. 62 Hitler himself wrote in Mein Infact Irene Stoehr, a German feminist, has employing them when the need arose.53 Kampf, "The people in their overwhelming argued that parliamentary democracy had The adaptation of war images to the majority are so feminine by nature and at- proved to be as bad as fascism for women demands of war allowed the German public titude that sober reasoning determines their and thus there was no need for women to to accept the employment of women in 'un- thought and actions far less than emotions oppose it. She extends the argument to womanly' occupations without challenging and feelings".63 ridiculous limits when she states that the basic ideas about 'woman's place'. Also the However these arguments have no scien- feminist movement was in fact becoming Nazi ideology promised women security and tific basis and there are many problems with more radical. The feminist call of retreat into meaningg in what was, from a conservative them. The views of Hitler and his close the home is thus interpreted as a form of WS-44 Economic and Political Weekly April 27, 1991 radicalism as they were withdrawing from 'masculine' politics. 67 However, history, facts, and above all the women's movement have effectively proved this argument to be wrong. To say that women's position in Weimar and Nazi Germany was the same is virtually criminal in view of the degradation and murder which millions of women suffered under the Third Reich. It has been effectively argued by Venska, another German feminist that "using biological sex as the starting-point for political judgments", which Stoehr regards as a form of resistance, has been part of the male reportoire since time im- memorial, and it is more plausible when women use it. In fact women's withdrawal or rather, forced retreat, into a 'female' political sphere of welfare and social work may well have been a factor in allowing the male political world to become so violent. 68 One or two points need to be made here. The vast majority of Protestant women, especially their leaders recognised their own anti-emancipatory values, as well as their anti-communism in Nazism and, given a degree of autonomy, were willing to comply with them. 69 At the same time it must be remembered, that at times women were reluctant to vote and many of them usually voted for that party/person to whom the male members of their family voted. Thus it would be an oversimplification to state internalised moral code. But they did not call wages... And what are we women supposed that it was just women's vote that brought for organised resistance against Hitler. It has 10 do in the days to come? No Nazi can tell Hitler to power or that women voted purely been pointed out that the Hitler-Stalin Pact us!"75 to parties' policies on women's issues. The and the Concordat with the Pope even tied Koonz states that because of social pre- Nazis won support because they were able down the enormous international power judice about their position and character, to appeal to many different sectors of the which these institutions should have had at women were particularly suited to the population. Also as I have stated earlier their command. The consequence was in- dangerous and important work of passing there was a degree of flexibility of Nazi dividual heroism without strategy, creating on information. Their coffee parties allow- position on women and without compromis- countless martyrs. ed them to meet without arousing suspicion; ing on their basic ideology, they were able There were, however, various acts and prams and shopping bags were convenient to induce certain changes and modify their forms of resistance. Working class women means of transport. The view that women policies to suit their needs, thus leading to slowed down on the job, middle-class women were above all mothers capable of expres- a certain degree of confusion. 70 could not be mobilised in the workforce. sing warmth but not provided with great Most women refused to have large families. intelligence, meant that it was some time Whatever the motivation, personal or before the security organs paid any atten- Voices of Protest political, women's recalcitrance hindered the tion to them. She concludes that the smooth functioning of the war machine and women's resistance network was closer and A l l this is not to say that there was no made it impossible to achieve a total more effective than historians describe 76 resistance on the part of women. However mobilisation of 'Aryan' labour for total wan The great women's organisations— there was a failure to act and defy in a united Some women gave food or other support to particularly those of the churches—failed in fashion. While each individual act of Jews, political fugitives, and slave labourers, the face of fascism, not least because the resistance was courageous, it remained and a few hid and saved the prosecuted.72 conception and practice of culturally distinct relatively ineffectual. The oral history of Katharina Jacob shows women's sphere, with motherhood and Claudia Koonz, in her recent book, talks how she operated the tools of resistance: family at their centre, suited them. The of resistance by women in some detail. 7 ' typewriters and mimeograph machines that organisation of the working class failed, not She recounts the fate of individual women: produced forbidden leaflets. 73 Hanna only because international opposition had their work at first in open groups, then Schmitt, a Swiss woman active in the Inter- been blunted by the Hitler-Stalin Pact, but underground, abroad, their arrest, their national Women's League for Peace and also because they recognised far too late the execution. Their names form a c h a i n - Freedom, and had worked closely with threat of a politics which did not deal in women who courageously did the obvious German feminists during the Weimar period terms of class and property, but whose when the obvious was outrageous, and were came out heavily against Nazi rule in a docu- whole propaganda effort was directed murdered because of it. To learn about them ment: The Disfranchisement of Women.74 towards the sphere of reproduction—towards is heartening because they bear witness that A factory worker in Nazi Germany wrote the reproduction of a 'pure', 'healthy' race resistance was possible; their life stories are a letter entitled: 'Discharged—When You This politics was oriented towards women's also horrifying and crippling because they Are Too Old'. She stated: "... I was given two everyday lives, it elevated them by drawing show that resistance was impossible. weeks' notice along with nine women their activities into the public sphere, and The resistance mainly came from com- workers. We are discharged and our places degraded them because at the same time they munists, socialists and Catholics. Some were taken- by men from the storm troopers' remained in subordinate and biologically politically motivated or were inspired by an ranks. They'll do women's work for women's determined areas. The elevation meant that Economic and Political Weekly A p r i l 27, 1991 WS-45  they did not experience fascism only as a Germany was also one of women standing This evokes the concept of motherhood in threat, and that organised resistance, the in the ruins, engaging in a national clean up Nazi Germany.85 only kind which could have been successful, campaign, again devoted to rebuilding In present day India there is a visible did not take place. family and nation, and forgetting the very escalation of communal conflicts and an in- But what about the Jewish women? At the recent past. creasing politicisafion of religious identities. time of Weimar Republic, there was a power- It has been argued by many feminists that An important manifestation of this funda- ful League of Jewish Women which strug- in various social functions the position and mentalism' of religion is a fundamentalist gled to promote feminist goals within the identity of women took precedence; oppres- assault on women's freedom and identity. Jewish community and which belonged to sed whatever their particular circumstances. The Shah Bano and Roop Kanwar incidents the organised bourgeois German women's Hence the importance of feminist con- reveal the coming together of fundamen- movement until the Nazis seized power. sciousness in any revolution. 81 But the talism and a partisan state and reflect the After that they were increasingly ostracised fascist experience has taught us that this is several patriarchies, 86 and persecuted as Jews. Previous feminist just one side of the picture. The history of While these have been the most blatant solidarity vanished into thin air, and German-Jewish women forces us to acknow- manifestations, the basic ideology of com- strategies of sheer survival replaced the ledge the salience of race in the current munal organisations in relation to gender earlier gender-specific concerns of Jewish struggles for women's equality. has a marked similarity with Nazism. Hindu feminists.77 Also, women's protest against fascism communal organisations like the Rashtriya Between 1933 and 1938 the League of would have consisted of joining together the Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) are vocal sup- Jewish Women joined other Jewish organisa- spheres politically; the sphere of reproduc- porters of Hitler's rule. And what do they tions in a struggle for survival. This tion should neither be abandoned, nor have to say about women? endeavour took several forms: fighting anti- merely be given public recognition. Its tasks In an important commentary on the semitism, preventing the disintegration of have to be articulated in a political context 'perversion of (Indian or Hindu) virtues', communal organisations, ensuring the con- and distributed as work for the whole of V D Savarkar severely rebukes Shivaji for tinuation of Jewish practices, helping needy society irrespective of gender, but in relation having been decent towards Muslim women, Jews and preparing people for emigration.78 to other tasks. in keeping with the ideas of religious It must also be remembered that the im- Fascism has also shown that public images tolerance, respect for 'other (men's) women' possibly misogynist nature of the Third may change in moments of crisis but they and the protection of women belonging to Reich made feminism both futile and do not bring any major change because the the enemy. Thus he chides Shivaji for having dangerous. They also launched a self- dominating imagery remained of women's turned a deaf ear to the cries of Hindu discipline campaign in which simplicity in 'place' in the home or in the war, signifying women captured and molested by Muslim the appearance of women and girls was en- that little had changed. warriors, and then reprimands him for couraged. They stressed on a simple stan- Today, the neo-Nazi trends arc again having failed to order the molestation and dard of living. In a defensive posture, they casting a shadow upon Germany. There are rape of Muslim women, both as a deterrent demonstrated a common characteristic of around 70 neo-Nazi groups and associations and as a punishment. "Had such terror been oppressed minorities, blaming themselves to active. Together they run nine book pub- inflicted upon the (community of) Muslim a certain extent for their victimisation. lishing houses, 18 newspapers and magazine women in the first two or three centuries of What emerges is that at the time of crisis, establishments and 15 distribution services, Muslim conquest, then lakhs of Hindu racial identity prevailed over female solidari- accounting for publications with a total mothers, sisters and daughters would not ty not only among Jews, where the identity have had to suffer the humiliation that circulation of more than nine million was imposed, but also among German gen- became their lot for hundreds of years." copies. 82 This alarming trend makes tile women, who accepted and sometimes Besides, says Savarkar, this would have fascism today a living reality and the lessons embraced racist divisions.79 of history cannot be forgotten. helped limit the 'enemy' M u s l i m Voices of protest were definitely heard, but population. 87 they were not unified. The failure, especially I cannot end this paper without drawing In fact there is almost a hysterical protec- on the part of communists, to organise a some Indian analogues (though partial) to tive anxiety about numbers, evoking clear united and effective resistance is crucial in the portrayal of women in Nazi Germany. images of Nazi Germany. A pamphlet of the the context of today as well; more so for During the colonial period, in the interaction VHP states: Ek Hindu ka nara hat 'hum do India, with increasing communalisation of between colonialism and nationalism, the ha mare do' jabki ek Muslim ka nara hat politics. Though the Leeft has recognised the woman's question held a key place. A new 'ham panch hamare pocchisl'' Worse still link between gender class racial colonial identity for Indian womanhood was re- an article by Vijay Kumar Malhotra, who exploitation theoretically, in practice this constructed especially in the second half of is a BJP MP is titled: Bharat mein Hinduon linkage has been integrated to mean virtual the 19th century which highlighted their ki ghatri wnkhiya par chinfa. The article marginalisation of a host of gender-specific 'Aryan' values. This was expressed in the expresses grave worry at the declining problems as 'bourgeois feminism'. The Nazi writings of R C Dutt, Bankim Chandra percentage of Hindu population. It goes on experience must teach us otherwise. Chatterji and most explicitly in Dayananda to say that India can only retain its basic Saraswali's. His writings at times bear a values if the majority is Hindu, since VI similarity to the Nazi position on some Muslims succeeded in partitioning the questions.83 country.89 It is amply clear as to what will Conclusion What was central to Dayananda's thinking happen to women in such an ideology, as One of the features of the Nazi state was was his understanding of the role of women underlying such statements is an obvious its totalitarian tendency to wipe out the in the maintenance of race. Motherhood for attack on Muslim female 'fertility' and a call boundaries between public and private life Dayananda was the sole rationale of a for Hindu women to produce more children. and to politicise every aspect of the indi- women's existence but what was crucial in More so, Balasaheb Deoras, the present vidual's existence.'80 As time went on his concept of motherhood was its specific role in the procreation and rearing of a chief of the RSS, justifies the exclusion of women came to resist this politicisation of special breed of men. For example, the women from the RSS structure on the the family. The stage was set for the cult of Satyarth Prakash lays down a variety of grounds of domestic responsibilities: "How domesticity which was a central feature of rules and regulations for ideal conception. can women participate in 'shakhas' when German social and political life in the two The birth of the child is also followed by a they have domestic responsibilities?" 90 decades following the collapse of the Third Reich. series of regulations on food, cleanliness, Thus in today's world the Nazi ideology Another enduring image of post-war clothing, etc, for both mother and child. 84 is very much alive, Women are cast in a WS-46 Economic and Political Weekly April 27, 1991 particular mould both to symbolise the per cent to 23.1 per cent between 1910 and (eds). Connecting Spheres (OUP, New York, identity of the community or race and to 1939 in Germany. The absolute number of 1987), p 214. embody its definition in relation to other married couples rose by almost 6 million 21 Richard Grunbergcr, A Social History of the communities or races. It logically follows over the same period. Third Reich (London, 1971), p 332. that the struggle against womens' oppres- 13 Leila J Rupp, op cit, p 371. 22 For an overview of the eugenics movement sion, along with female solidarity, has to 14 For the main points of the recent judgment see Allan Chase, The Legacy of Mai thus; embrace many more levels. The connection of the US Supreme Court regarding this see The Social Costs of the New Scientific between class oppression, gender identities, Archana Sachdeva, 'Ami -Abortion Laws Racism (New York, 1977), pp xv-xxii and colonialism, imperialism, etc, has to be Violate a Woman's Basic Rights' in The chapter I. recognised. They have to be fought jointly Times of India, July 1989 23 Glaser, op cit, p 189. for a just future. 15 There is a tot of material published on this. 24 For Walter Dat re's breeding concepts see Some preliminary works are, Elizabeth Fee, Clifford R Lovin, 'Blut and Boden: The 'Women and Health Care: A Comparison Ideological Basis of Nazi Agricultural Notes of Theories' in International Journal of Programme' in Journal of the History of [I am greatful to my guide Sumil Sarkar lor Health Services, Vol S, No 3. 1975, Ideas, No 28, 1967, pp 279-88. his valuable suggestions and to Monica Juneja pp 347 415; G J Baker Benfield, The 25 Taken from August Kubizek, The Young for all the initial help. Warm thanks to our Horrors of the Half-Known Life (Harper Hitler I Knew, trans E V Anderson (Boston, Gender Studies Group and especially Uma and Row, New York, 1976); Graham Milary 1955), p 233. Chakravorty for listening patiently to the and Ann Oakley, 'Competing Ideologies of 26 Sathyamala, op cit, pp 55-56. preliminary draft and helping me rethink some Reproduction: Medical, and Maternal 27 Zillah R Eiscnstein (ed), Capitalist of the points.) Perspectives on Pregnancy' in Helen Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Roberts (ed), Women Health and Reproduc- Feminism (Monthly Review Press, USA, 1 Herman Glaser, The Cultural Roots of non (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1979), National Socialism, (Groom Helm, 1981), pp 50-74; C Salhyamala, 'ls Medicine 28 Bock, op cit, pp 419-21. London, 1978), p 177. Inherently Sexist?1 in Socialist Health 29 For a good account of the situation between 2 Richard J Evans, Comrades and Sisters: Review, Vol I, No 2, September 1984, the world wars and its effect on women see Feminism, Socialism and Pacifism in pp 53-7. Bridenthal et al (eds), op cit, intro, pp 6-10. Europe. 1870-1945 (Great Britain, 1987), 16 Biil Stephenson, Women in Nazi Society Also see M J Bower et al (eds), op cit, p 161 (Croom Helm, London, 1975), p 68. pp 187-211. 3 for a very good analysis of this aspect see, 17 For the demographic debate see David V 30 For a good discussion on this see Claudia Gisela Bock, 'Racism and Sexism in Nazi Glass, Population: Polices and Movements Koonz, 'Mothers in the Fatherland: Women Germany: Motherhood, Compulsory tn Europe (Frank Cass, London, 1967), in Nazi Germany" in Renate Bridenthal and Sterilisation and the State' in Signs, Vol 8, pp 263-313, on Germany and passim for Claudia Koonz (eds), Becoming Visible No 3, 1983, pp 400-421. other Luropean countries. (Boston, 1977), p 445-73. 4 Taken from Leila J Rupp, 'Mother of the 18 Ibid, pp 311-13. 31 Tim Mason, op cit, pp 77-78. Volk: The Image of Woman in Nazi 19 Lor a very good account of this aspect see 32 Renate Bridenthal, 'Beyond Kinder, Kuche, Ideology' in Signs. Vol 3. No 2. 1977. Renate Bridenthal et al (eds), op cit. Kirche: Weimar Women at Work' in Central pp 363 64. 20 See Marilyn J Boxer and Jean H Quataert European History, 1973, pp 148-66. 5 Ibid, p 364 6 Ibid. 7 Taken from Tim Mason, 'Women in Germany, 1925-40: lamily, Welfare and Work', in History Workshop, spring 1976, p 74. The statement was made by Adolf Hitler in a speech to the National Socialist Women's Organisation on September 8, 1934. 8 Adolf Hitler, Mem Kampf book 1, chapter X I . (New York, 1939). 9 For the point on differential birthrate and social differences in fertility see John Knodel, The Decline of fertility in Germany, 1871- 930 (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1930). 10 P J P Pulzer, The Rise of Political Ann Semitism in Germany and Austria, Chapter 23 (New York, 1964). 11 There is now a substantial literature on German women in the Third Reich, lor useful introductions see Jill R Stephenson, The Nazi Organisation of Women (Croom Helm, London, 1981); Renate Bridenthal, Atina Grossmann, and Marion Kaplan (eds), When Biology became Destiny: Women in Weimar and Nazi Germany (New York, 1984), 12 Richard M Titpiuss, Parents Revolt (London, 1966), p 105. Also see Clifford Kirk pat rick, Nazi Germany: Its Women and family Life (New York, 1938), p 152. Richard Titmuss in his other book, Essays on 'The Welfare State' (London, 1958, chapts 5 and 6), gives a brilliant introduc- tory survey of how the proportion of adult women who did not marry fell from 28.2 Economic and Political Weekly April 27, 1991 WS --47  33 Ibid. 52 For a detailed study of this see Leila J Rupp, 71 Koonz, Mothers in the Fatherland, op cit. 34 Koonz, op cit. Mobilising Women for War, op cit. 72 Renate BredenthaJ et al (eds), When Biology 35 Mason, op cit, and Bridenthal, op cit. 53 Annemarie Troger, op cit. Became Destiny, op cit, p 28. 36 For an understanding of the process of 54 Some insight into the appeal of Nazism for 73 Reprinted in Bridenthal, ibid, 'Comrade- rationalisation see Bridenthal et al (eds) women can be gained from reading some Woman-Mother-Resistance Fighter', as told When Biology became Destiny, op cit, intra, of the autobiographies of womeri party to Gerda Szepansky by Katherina Jacob, pp 10-11. members, available in Peter Merkl, Political pp 349-62. 37 Ibid. Violence under the Swastika: 581 Early 74 Republished in Elanor S Riemar et al (eds), 38 Larry E Jones, " T h e Dying Middle": Nazis (Princeton Univesity Press, UK, op cit, pp 111-13. Weimar Germany and the Fragmentation 1975). Also see Elanor S Riemar and John 75 Ibid, p 114. of Bourgeois Politics' in Central European C Fout (eds), European Women: A 76 Koonz, Mothers in the Fatherland, op cit. History, 1972, pp 23-54. Also see Richard Documentary History, 1789-1945 (Schocken 77 See Marion Kaplan, "Sisterhood under J Evans, The Feminist Movement in Book, New York, 1980), pp 106-10. Ir has Seige: Feminism and Anti-Semitism in Germany 1894-1933, (Sage Publications. a document written by Guida Diehl, which Germany, 1904-1938' in Renate Bridenthal London, 1976). talks of the adherence to Nazi principles by et al (eds). When Biology Became Destiny, 39 For a study of the case of the Housewives the National Socialist Women's Association. op cit, pp 174-196. Union and how it got pushed in the Nazi 55 See Hermann Raurschning, Hitler Speaks: 78 Ibid, p 190. camp see Renate Bridenthal, 'Class Strug- A Series of Political Conversations with 79 Ibid, p 193. gle around the Hearth: Women and Adolf Hitler on His Real Aims, (London, 80 W S Allen, The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Domestic Servants in the Weimar Republic' 1939), p 259. Experience of a Single German Town, (New in Michael N Dobkowski and Isidor 56 Quoted in Helen Boak, 'Women in Weimar York, 1984). Walliman (eds), Towards the Holocaust: Germany: The "Frauenfragc" and the 81 See for example Juliet Mitchell, Woman's The Social and Economic Collapse of the Female Vote' in Richard Bessel and E J Estate, (Penguin, 1971). Weimar Republic, (Westport, 1983), Feuchtwanger (eds), Social Change and 82 See article, 'West Germany: Big Upsurge of pp 243-64. Political Development in Weimar Germany, Neo-Nazi Activity' in Peoples Democracy, 40 Tim Mason, op cit, p 86. (London, 1981), p 155. July 2, 1989. 41 Quoted in George L Mosse, Nazi Culture: 57 See Section III of this paper. 83 For details see Uma Chakravarti, 'Whatever Intellectual, Cultural and Socidl Life in the 58 Curiously no serious attempt seems to have Happened to the Vedic Dasi? Orientalism, Third Reich (New York, 1966), pp 30-47. been made to calculate the absolute number Nationalism and a Script for the Past' in 42 Taken from Harry G Shaffer, Women in the of women who voted for the Nazis in July Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid (eds). Two Germanies: A Comparative Study of 1932. Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial a Socialist and a non-Socialist Society 59 See Janet Silanen and Michelle Stanworth History, (Kali for Women, New Delhi, (Pregamon Press, USA, 1981), p 6. (eds). Women and the Public Sphere, 1989), pp 27-87. 43 Claudia Koonz, The Competition for a (Hutchinson and Co Ltd, London, 1984). 84 Ibid, p 56. Women's Lebensraum, 1928-1934' in Renate This book gives a theoretical argument 85 See Section II of this paper. Bridenthal et al (eds), When Biology about how women have always been 86 For a good analysis see Kam la Bhasin, Ritu became Destiny, op cit, pp 199-236. thought of as more 'emotional' rather than Menon and Abha Bhaiya, 'Why Women rational as far as electoral politics goes. Fear the Fundamentalists' in The Times of 44 Dismissal of women with employed 60 Grunberger, op cit, p 117. India, Sunday Review, January 20, 1991, p I. husbands and of unmarried women, who 61 Joachim C Fest, The Face of the Third 87 V D Savarkar, Bhartiya Itihas ke Chhah could be supported by their parents. Thus Reich, (Harmondsworth, 1972), p 401. Swarnim Prishta, (in Hindi), (Rashtra women were attacked as 'double' earners. 62 Ibid, p 402. Dharma Pustak Prakashan, Luc know), See Jill Stephenson, Women in Nazi Society 63 Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, trans Ralph Vol 2, pp 45-53. (London, 1975). Mankeim, (London, 1969), p 167. 88 This appears in a pamphlet of VHP titled 45 See Section II of this article. 64 Claudia Koonz, Mothers in the Fatherland: 'Chetavani-2: Desh Khatare Mein1 (in 46 For a good analysis of this aspect see Leila Women, the Family and Nazi Politics, Hindi). J Rupp, Mobilising Women for War: (Jonathan Cape, 1987). 89 Vijay Kumar Melhotra, Navbharat Times, German and American Propaganda, 65 Ibid, p 87. (in Hindi), October 4, 1990. p 4. 1939-1945 (Princeton University Press, USA, 66 Richard J Evans, Comrades and Sisters, 90 Quoted in Dina Nalh Mishra, RSS: Myth 1978). op cit, pp 169-79. and Reality, (Vikas Publishing, New Delhi, 47 Annemarie Troger, 'The Creation of a 67 Arguments taken from Evans, ibid, 1980), p 136. For details about the way com- Female Assembly-Line Proletariat' in pp 172-73. munal organisations in India look at the Bridenthal et al (eds), When Biology 68 Ibid, p 174. woman's question see Ish N Mishra, became Destiny, op cit, pp 237-70. 69 For this point see Evans, ibid; and Koonz, 'Gender-Bias in Communal Ideologies' in 48 Quote taken from Leila J Rupp, 'Mother Mothers in Fatherland, op cit. Third World Studies, August -Spetember, of the Volk' in Signs, op cit, p 373. 70 See Section II of this paper. 1989, pp 37-50. 49 Taken from Claudia Koonz, 'Mothers in the Fatherland" in Renate Bridenthal et al (eds), Becoming Visible, op cit, p 466. This argu- ment has also got a close bearing to that of Gail Minault, used in the context of the Indian National Movement and women's participation. The idea of the 'extended family' was to include the whole of India into the family. See Gail Minault (ed), The Extended Family: Women and Political Par- ticipation in India and Pakistan (Chanakya Publications. Delhi, 1981). 50 In fact, one sees that in many movements women are seen to have a great capacity for sacrifice. Thus their participation is also seen as something of a 'sacrifice' for the common good and not as something 'natural'. 51 Annemarie Troger, op cit, p 265. WS-48 Economic and Political Weekly A p r i l 27, 1991