Nazi social and economic policiesExpectations of women
In the 1930s the Nazis began rearmament which created thousands of jobs. They expected the German people to follow the Nazi way of life and used the Nuremberg Rallies to get their message across.
Hitler had very clear ideas about the role of women in the Nazi state. They were the centre of family life, as housewives and mothers.
Female doctors, teachers and civil servants were forced to give up their careers. Even at the end of the war, women were never asked to serve in the armed forces.
Their job was to keep the home nice for their husband and family.
Hitler wanted Germany to have a high birth rate, so the population would grow. The Nazis even considered making it law that families should have at least four children.
The Law for the Encouragement of Marriage gave newly-wed couples a loan of 1,000 marks, and allowed them to keep 250 marks for each child they had. Mothers who had more than eight children were given a gold medal.
Women were supposed to copy traditional German peasant dress - plain peasant costumes, hair in plaits or buns and flat shoes. They were expected not to wear make-up or trousers, dye their hair or smoke in public.
