The Third Reich's School for Brides: How the Nazis Created the "New Woman"

One of the features of a totalitarian state is unceremonious interference in the personal lives of citizens. The Third Reich, which existed in Germany from 1933 to 1945, was especially famous for this. All aspects of people's lives were strictly regulated, including family relationships. It is absolutely clear that this was not done to make Germans happier. The only goal that the Nazis pursued was to strengthen their power.

To promote their ideas among the civilian population, the Nazis founded many organizations and institutions that included Germans of all ages and genders. One of them was the "School for Brides of the Third Reich." The school's goal was to create a "new woman" who would fit perfectly into Nazi ideology.

The concept of the "new woman" already existed. It was voiced by the last German emperor Wilhelm II. The monarch once said that a real German woman is "Kinder, Küche, Kirche" ("Children, Kitchen, Church"). This idea appealed to the Nazis. In 1934, Hermann Goering wrote in his book "Nine Commandments of the Workers' Struggle", addressing women: "Take a saucepan, a dustpan, a broom and get married."

Hitler's comrades believed that women had no place in politics, public life and science. Their duty, predetermined by nature, was to serve a man, keep the home fires burning and raise children. The ideologists meddled not only in the public and private lives of German women. They established how women should dress and behave.

The women who were members of the Nazi party NSDAP or who were the wives of party members were under the closest surveillance. They were forbidden to wear provocative clothes, use cosmetics, and smoke. Divorce was also condemned. Women who left their families were considered frivolous and dissolute.

A relationship between a German woman and a foreigner became a serious offense. Contacts with men of other races and Jews were considered especially terrible. Such women were condemned in society and later publicly humiliated. There were also frequent cases when a German woman was sent to a concentration camp for such relationships.

To discourage girls from pursuing careers in politics, business or science, the Reich banned female higher education. Representatives of the fair sex were only required to complete compulsory secondary education. After that, the path lay in the "School of Brides", where ideal women for the Third Reich were raised.

The first such school opened in 1937. Its founder was Gertrud Scholz-Klink, who led the women's department of the NSDAP. The institution was located on the island of Schwanenwerder, located in Berlin on the Havel River. Soon, several more such schools appeared in the capital, and then they began to open all over Germany.

The ideal woman, according to the leaders of the Nazi Party, should be a supporter of the course chosen by the state. She should recognize only the ideology specified by the NSDAP and teach this to her children. Admission to the school was carried out with maximum pomp. Nazi flags were carried in front of the rows of students at the assembly, and then each one took an oath of allegiance to Hitler.

But the curriculum was not limited to ideology. Girls were also taught housekeeping: cooking, sewing, childcare, gardening. Particular attention was paid to serving the husband. Ideal German women were taught to wash and iron military uniforms, clean shoes, and even maintain weapons. To maintain patriotism at a high level, literature lessons were held, where they studied national folklore - German legends, fairy tales, and poetry. Physical training was not forgotten either.

After completing the full course, the women took exams. After that, they were given certificates confirming their “perfection.” It was believed that such a document was a ticket to a bright and happy future with a worthy man. According to the Nazi leaders, the girls who graduated from the school were supposed to become officers’ wives.

But time soon made its own adjustments to the Nazis' plans. Towards the end of the war, the Reich began to feel a shortage of labor. The principle of "Children, Kitchen, Church" had to be pushed into the background, and women took their places at the machines in factories and in the wards of military hospitals. And by the end of 1944, the Germans had no time for girls' schools at all and they were abolished.