How To Be A Nazi Bride

How To Be A Nazi Bride

It must have seemed like a splendid idea (at least to the Nazi ideologues who first came up with it).

When the Nazis first came to power in pre-WWII Germany, it was essential that they reshape German society and discard anything they considered to be "decadent" or dangerous.   And that meant redefining what constituted "proper roles" for German women.   While generally tolerated in menial positions (eg., secretaries and factory workers), women were banned by law from any of the more "masculine" professions such as medicine, law, or academics.   But women were regarded as being primarily suited for three things:  "kinder, küche, kirche" ("children, kitchen, church") and any training they received had to prepare them for those roles alone.   In other words, to stay at home and produce as many children as possible for the glory of the Fatherland.  

As Adolf Hitler himself told various women's groups, the very concept of "female emancipation" was a plot by Jewish intellectuals aimed at undermining traditional values.   Instead, he insisted that German women had no need for emancipation given how well-treated they were.   It was Herman Goering who summarized the Nazi view best when he wrote in 1934 that women needed to "take hold of the frying pan, dustpan, and broom, and marry a man."    Granted, there were highly placed women in the Nazi hierarchy, primarily working through organizations such as the NS-Frauenschaft for older women, and the League of German Girls (Bund Deutscher Mädel) for younger women, but they were primarily entrusted with upholding Nazi ideals for how women needed to behave.

But that wasn't enough to satisfy the Nazi high command, many of whom felt that the rise in divorces and drop in birth rates since World War One represented a threat to the very existence of the Aryan race.   To counter what they saw as the corrupting influence of degenerate Western ideas, they implemented a multi-prong approach:   not only did membership in the Nazi female-led organizations become mandatory, but they also implemented a special award for any woman having multiple children, the  Ehrenkreuz der Deutschen Mutter or cross of Honour of the German Mother.  Women having eight or more children got the medal in gold but there were bronze and silver versions as well.

Still, the most bizarre strategy for training women involved the Reichsbräuteschule (Reich bride schools) which were first introduced during the late 1930s.  Supposedly inspired by the bride schools commonly seen in Japan during that era, bride schools were already in place in some parts of Germany though they were largely aimed at educating women about birth control as well as better health care to reduce infant mortality and malnutrition.  A special order from Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler  in 1936 soon changed all that, however.  

Organized under  Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, the head of the NS-Frauenschaft, the new Reich bride schools were as much about indoctrination into the Nazi philosophy as it was about educating them.   While the schools for mothers still continued (albeit with more ideology as well as "training" in race and genetics), bride schools focused on encouraging women to forget their previous lives and preparing themselves for their new role in life.   According to a 1937 Associated Press story on the schools:  "in circles of twenty students, the young girls should attend a course at the institute, preferably two months before their wedding day, to recuperate spiritually and physically, to forget the daily worries connected with their previous professions, to find the way and to feel the joy of their new lives as wives."  

Though the first attendees were =women engaged to be married to prominent members of the Nazi party, this was quickly expanded to include women from across Germany.   All "proper" women, that is. That meant that only women of "pure" Aryan stock were allowed to attend.  Anyone deemed to have "defective" genes or who were of Jewish or Roma heritage were typically weeded out (and likely recorded as potential candidates for sterilization or imprisonment).  

For six weeks, the attendees of the bride school lived together in a three-room structure where they would be thoroughly grounded in all the skills expected of them, i.e., cooking, cleaning, and managing a household.   They were also required to swear an oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler and his party and to accept the various dos and don'ts associated with being a proper Nazi wife.  These included not working outside the home, NEVER wearing trousers, not wearing makeup, not wearing high-heeled shoes, and not dying their hair or otherwise altering their appearance to make themselves more "sultry".    They were also ordered to have as many children as possible and to ensure their blood was kept "pure" by only marrying men of proper Aryan stock.  They were also pledged to raise their children to abide by Nazi codes of conduct.   Each graduate of the school also received a subsidy (around $400  U.S.) to help set the happy couple up for married life.

The earliest bride schools were used as propaganda tools with extensive media coverage (including being distributed to newspapers around the world).   The pictures that were often displayed, with young women learning to arrange flowers, cook, and sew, helped give the Nazi movement a more human face, particularly considering the horrific stories that refugees were spreading as they fled for safety.   Still, the concept of a school for brides certainly seemed to resonate overseas as similar establishments sprang up in other parts of Europe and North America (albeit without the Nazi indoctrination).   

Granted, it's hard to say how well the bride schools worked in actual practice, especially after the outbreak of World War II when labor shortages forced many women to return to their factory jobs to help the German war effort.  Also, as the first wounded veterans began returning home, the curriculum at the schools underwent a subtle change/  This included training unattached women as brides and then arranging them to meet these wounded ex-soldiers at fashionable resorts for potential marriage (Hitler remained determined to have men with "good genes" continue fathering as many children as possible).  

By 1944, most of the bride schools had been either closed or were on the verge of closing at the end of the war drew near.   Even Gertrud Scholtz-Klink accepted that there were more important priorities for women than being perfect brides.   By the end of the war, the Nazi bride schools were virtually forgotten with virtually no reference to them in the extensive media coverage about Germany's defeat and reconstruction.   Aside from what little information there is to be found in historical archives,  it's as if they had never existed.

But the concept of "bride schools" hasn't been wholly forgotten.  For example, in post-WWII Japan, the Red Cross set up special bride schools for Japanese women marrying American soldiers to prepare them for life in the U.S. This included "training films" describing life for interracial couples as well as mandatory health and military certification.   More recently, the South Korean government has launched a crackdown on schools preparing Vietnamese women for mail-order marriages to South Korean men (training included learning to speak Korean and how to show proper respect for a mother-in-law).    

Still, while marriage preparation courses remain popular, they have become a bit more egalitarian with both men and women being invited.   No Nazi oaths of loyalty required...