The Role of Women in Hitler's Third Reich

NARRATOR: Beautiful and useful - in Hitler's Reich of men, the role of women is firmly established. Even for girls, watchwords are loyalty, duty, sacrifice. For millions, membership in the Federation of German Girls, the female Hitler Youth, is compulsory. At Hitler's Berghof, groups of female visitors make a display for the newsreels of the popularity of their leader. Surrounded by young admirers, the dictator presents himself as a father figure to the nation. When the Czech Sudetenland is annexed by the Reich in 1938, the supposed liberator basks in the celebrations of the female population.

LORE SCHAAF: "Hitler looked me in the eye and stroked my cheek. For me, this was an indescribable event. It was fantastic. I didn't want to wash. My mother said I was crazy. And I was, too."

NARRATOR: Women served not only as cheerful backdrop. In line with Nazi ideology, a woman's purpose is to bear children.

ADOLPH HITLER: "There is no greater honor for a woman than to be mother to the sons and daughters of a people. This is the highest nobility that she can attain."

NARRATOR: She is the model wife par excellence: Magda Goebbels, wife of the Minister for Propaganda, and mother of seven.

GÜNTER JACOB: "She was exactly what a German woman was supposed to represent. A beautiful, clear face, and then this blonde hair, that was quintessential. I can imagine that the girls back then set out to emulate her. She was the paragon of a Germanic woman, as it was propagated."

NARRATOR: Self-reliance is not encouraged.

MARGARETE MITSCHERLICH: "The woman has to submit herself and bring children into the world, be devoted to her husband. So, a concept of women that was no longer found in modern states."

NARRATOR: After four births, a Mother's Cross is awarded in gratitude. Begetting children for the fuhrer is the watchword. The objective: future soldiers for Hitler's army. But the war brings its own laws. From the summer of 1943, ever more women must stand by their men, this time as armaments workers, in anti-aircraft service, and as emergency workers for the German Army. They wear their uniforms on the home front. The war turns brides into widows, mothers into mourners, girls into soldiers. After the catastrophic war, it is also the women who must clear away the rubble.