#imageandtextassignment

The previous argument made by Reese is confirmed by the view of McDonough as he states “the men wore the uniforms, the jackboots and went to work”. This implies that men’s lives consisted of wearing a uniform, working outside the household and bearing the ‘breadwinner’ role as he fought to protect his family and his country. This verifies the validity of the Bundesarchive’s image as it shows only men were considered to be suitable for the workforce. This corroborates the view that women were not considered to be worthy of fighting for their country yet were seen as those who bread and men were forced to protect the women. The stereotypical gender roles were thus severely enforced upon all individuals within society as women were punished if they attempted to join the fighting forces; although they were admitted into roles of nursing as they worked within their gender roles. This supports Wolf Willrich’s image by enforcing the idea of women being the nurturing parent thus women were expected to stay home in order to fulfil this role.

Historical critics have supported the arguments inferred by Wolf Willrich-Family Image. Reese, for example, claims that “The mother stood at the very hub of life in the family”.  This suggests that the mother’s role was at the core of the family, holding high importance due to the dual role that she performed through looking after children’s emotional needs and the housework. This confirms the inference that women were socially trapped by the Nazi regime. This supports both Pines and Bundesarchivs claims that women were more submissive than lively during the Nazi regime as the lack of a husband in the home meant that women were forced to take care of the home and children in all aspects, which left them working as slaves for the system. The validity of this quotation can be debated, one could argue that the there was a high level of importance for a woman as she held the role of beginning and bearing a family which was highly respected in the 1920s as it continued the Aryan race (which was socially desirable).  However, one could argue the role was enforced through the lack of alternatives, i.e. abortion was legalized in 1926 under conditions that the mother’s life had to be in serious danger in order for the courts to pass the motion; thus the role of a mother was forced onto many women if they were to please the Fuhrer and if they were to be accepted into society.

Pine’s criticisms are supported by the German slogan “Kinder, Kuche, Kirche”, which literally translates to “Children, Kitchen, Church”. The slogan clearly implies that women are required to live up to the regimes standard of being housewives and performing more stereotypically female jobs such as household chores, raising children, and staying faithful to yet another aspect of German tradition, Church. This corroborates with Pine’s text and the above image taken by Bundesarchiv as it gives further evidence of what life was like for German women during Hitler’s dictatorship. The slogan also corroborates the message given by the image as it reinforces the idea of women being submissive as it lists the three systems that women are submissive to.

Lisa Pine’s text on Nazi Family Policy is focused on criticisms on the way in which Nazi policy focused on ensuring that women were submissive to the regime and their partners. Pine’s criticism reflects on the image as the text further explains the way in which women were being treated by stating that “Marriage and childbirth became racial obligations rather than personal decisions”.This implies that women were used as breeding material and stripped from the right to make decisions about their own bodies; the Nazi regime had deformed the whole concept of creating a loving family unit and overpowered the ability of women to make personal decisions on this issue. Pines criticism partially agrees with Bundesarchivs image as it shows women have been an asset to the regime, however the fact that the family appear to be happy suggests the regime was followed by their own accord rather than a forceful obligation