Published

2001

An intriguing and often shocking look at the role German women played in the rise and fall of the Nazi dictatorship. 

Nazi Women shows how ordinary women were wooed by the Nazis with a clear identity as ‘bearers of culture’; motherhood was their highest duty and their housewife role recognised as a profession. Women formed the backbone of the regime. But as Hitler’s power grew and war loomed, events took a darker turn and German women became complicit in a chain of ever more horrific events. 

While Hitler transfixed vast crowds, he could also enthral women at a personal level. But his intimate affairs were troubled and controversial – from the early female influences on his life, through his awkward adolescence to his adult affairs, including with his niece Geli, who committed suicide, and his secret liaison with Eva Braun. 

With Germany losing the war, Hitler’s proclaimed ideals of womanhood perished in conflict, brutality and destruction on a vast scale. Women had lost  their homes and families, their fathers, brothers and sons; they now toiled to build a new Germany from the ruins.