Three Ks - Kinder, Kirche, Kuche (Children, Church, Cooking).
Expected to be loyal to the Nazi movement and obedient to their husbands.
Nazis wanted birth-rate to increase as part of their ai to create a great German nation.
"The mission of women is to be beautiful and bring children into the world" - Joseph Goebbels.
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Lives of Women
Women were forced from jobs - especially those married or in professions such as law or medicine.
Newley married couple given 1000 mark loan - 25% of loan was dismissed for each child.
German Motherhood Medal - those with over five children.
Childless couples were encouraged to divorce.
1935 Marriage Law - Jews and Aryans not allowed to marry.
Women sterilised if seen as 'unfit' - 350,000 by 1939.
Lebensborn (Spring of Life), unmarried mothers encouraged to live in special houses where Aryan ** officers were available to have children with them.
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Children
Nazis saw indoctrination of young people as the future of the country.
The earlier the indoctrination, the more likely they were to conform - indoctrination started young.
Boys - future soldiers and leaders.
Girls - future wives and mothers.
"The whole purpose of education is to create Nazis" - Nazi Minister of Eductaion.
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School
Hitler picture and Nazi flag in every classroom.
Jewish teachers were fired and Jewish children slowly excluded form the classroom.
Teachers encouraged to join NSLB (National Socialist Teachers' League) - by 1939 97% had joined.
History - children were taught about great German military victories and how Jews had always been Germany's enemy.
Geography - children taught that the land lost under Versailles should be taken back for living space.
Biology - children taught about purity of Aryan race (eugenics).
PE - took up 15% of timetable. Girls needed to be fit for motherhood, boys needed to be fit for war.
Special schools were set up for children identified as possible future leaders.
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Life Outside School
Hitler Youth Movement - made compulsory by 1939.
Teenage Boys - Hitler Youth.
Teenage Girls - League of German Girls.
After-school activities and weekend meetings/camps - boys and girls learned about their future roles.
Hiking in the mountains, learning skills e.g. first aid.
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Successes and Failures
Most young people conformed - pressure to fit in.
Standard of education went down - indoctrination rather than good teaching.
Some set up rival groups - The Edelweiss Pirates and Swing Youth listened to jazz, didn't join youth groups, smoked, and even wrote anti-Nazi slogans on walls and attacked Hitler Youth members.
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Successes and Failures
Birth rate did go up - not as high as the decade before the Nazis came to power.
Marriage rates were going up - levelling off by 1935.
Women discouraged from working - rate went up closer to war as women were needed in arms factories.
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