At the beginning of Hitler Youth (HJ), it was seen as a boy's organization and very few girls joined. It did not reach a very high number of girls until attendance became mandatory in 1941. Hitler believed the main role of a woman was to produce and raise young men to join the Nazi regime. Therefore, the girls in HJ were taught how to be good Nazi mothers and how to be attractive mates for the Nazi men. They were taught obedience, discipline, self-sacrifice, and physical self-control. They also were trained for the work force until they could leave their jobs, marry, and raise children, as was the case in many other countries around the world.
The activities that the girls participated were fairly different from the boys. The girls did exercises much like the men, however, their's included running sixty meters in fourteen seconds, throwing a ball twelve meters, completing a two hou march, and swimming one hundred meters. They also learned childcare, cooking, sewing, and the arts (art, music, theater, etc.). HJ was very heavy on domestic skills with the young women. Some of the activities the girls participated in were seen as too boyish for some peoples' taste. Women at the time were expected to stay home with their parents, not be out at camps and hiking with backpacks. Some ladies spent so much time at camp that when they returned home, they found themselves policing and trying to influence their families to become better Nazis. Hitler Youth girls did their part by collecting metal, money, cloth, and other things for wartime supplies. They also helped wounded soldiers off trains and sang to them to raise their morale. Later in the war, some girls were a part of anti-aircraft batteries, especially when the Allies started bombing Germany on a large scale. That was not the only major post women attained. Around 3,500 women were recruited as concentration camp guards. The role women play in any war is almost as large as the men on the front lines. These women were suppressed and tricked into thinking that all they were good for was bearing and raising children. |