Scholtz-Klink's 1935 Speech on Women in Nazi Germany
This paper analyzes Gertrud Scholtz-Klink's 1935 speech to the National Socialist Women's Association, examining her ideology regarding women's roles in the Third Reich. The paper covers four main areas: Scholtz-Klink's vision of women as "mothers of the nation" whose primary duty was supporting their husbands and raising children; lessons drawn from the Maternity Service program; her views on women's paid employment; and a comparison between her ideology and earlier feminist movements. The analysis concludes that Scholtz-Klink's framework was fundamentally anti-individualistic, subordinating women's personal welfare entirely to the interests of the Nazi state.
- Introduction: Women's Role in the Reich: Women as homemakers and mothers of the nation
- Lessons from the Maternity Service: Volunteerism, generosity, and national duty
- Women and Paid Employment: Labor necessity versus domestic ideology
- Scholtz-Klink's Ideas Versus Earlier Women's Movements: Nation over individual; rejection of feminist equality
- Conclusion: Nazi ideology subordinated women to the state
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper maintains a consistent critical lens, noting at the end that Scholtz-Klink's ideology was "anti-woman" and anti-individualistic, which grounds the analysis in a clear evaluative position.
- Each section addresses a distinct thematic question — role, practice, labor, and comparison — giving the paper clear organizational logic despite its brevity.
- The contrast drawn between Scholtz-Klink's movement and traditional suffrage-era women's movements is the paper's strongest analytical move, illuminating how Nazi gender ideology co-opted the language of women's service while dismantling women's rights.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates comparative ideological analysis: it places Scholtz-Klink's rhetoric alongside earlier feminist movements to reveal what was uniquely regressive about Nazi gender policy. Rather than simply describing the speech, the student evaluates it against an external benchmark — the goals of liberal-era women's movements — making the analysis genuinely argumentative rather than merely descriptive.
Structure breakdown
The paper is structured as a four-part thematic response, each section addressing a specific aspect of Scholtz-Klink's 1935 speech. It opens by defining her core ideology (women as national mothers), moves through practical programs (Maternity Service, factory labor relief), and closes with a comparative critique that synthesizes the ideological implications of her framework. The conclusion is embedded in the final section rather than presented as a standalone paragraph.
Introduction: Women's Role in the Reich
In her 1935 speech to the National Socialist Women's Association, Gertrud Scholtz-Klink outlined what she believed to be the principal role of women in the Third Reich: to support the nation by supporting their husbands. Women were expected to fulfill their roles as homemakers, keep their families well-fed and content, and support one another in pursuing that shared goal. They were to devote their energies to raising healthy children who would, in turn, also contribute to the Reich. Scholtz-Klink referred to German women as the mothers of the German nation.
Lessons from the Maternity Service
One lesson drawn from the Maternity Service at the time of the speech was that the German people were willing to be generous in support of their national mission. Germans of modest means, in particular, contributed most willingly to the cause when asked. Another key lesson was that women were so eager to contribute to the welfare of the nation that none of those involved in the program ever asked about salaries or pensions; they gladly agreed to serve through the Maternity Service without expectation of personal reward.
Unlike the ideals of the liberal era, the concept of womanhood and motherhood advanced by Scholtz-Klink held that through marriage women become mothers of the nation. She described this as a conscious conviction: women must become supporters of the nation by supporting their husbands in their respective roles in society.
Women and Paid Employment
Scholtz-Klink acknowledged that a substantial portion of the nation's industrial labor would always have to be performed by women — particularly in wartime, when necessity demanded it. However, she argued in principle that the proper role for women was not in the workplace but in the service of their families and in the support of their husbands. Because the economic hardships of post-World War I Germany made it necessary for many women to work outside the home, Scholtz-Klink sought to provide at least some relief by assigning members of her organization to fill in temporarily at factories and plants, enabling working women to take a vacation and replenish their wellbeing.
Conclusion
Instead of focusing on the welfare of individual women or on achieving equality, Scholtz-Klink argued that women had a duty to devote their lives and their greatest energies to the development of the nation. In many ways, the methods she promoted were antithetical to the goals of traditional women's movements. Scholtz-Klink encouraged women to see themselves as primarily responsible for assisting their husbands and for playing a supportive role for one another — a role that enabled other women to do the same. Ultimately, Scholtz-Klink's ideas were as anti-woman as the entire Nazi ideology was anti-individualistic, because only the welfare of the state mattered to her.
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