I first turned to this book, by a professor of German history, out of my interest in Nazism, the Holocaust, and right-wing movements in general; a study of Nazi women, I knew, would also illuminate a great deal about Nazi men. As I expected, Mothers in the Fatherland demonstrates the significant contribution of feminist analysis to our understanding of conservatism and authoritarianism. As I did not expect, however, it also raises troubling and stimulating questions about feminism.
Koonz discusses many aspects of women’s participation in Nazi life but focuses particular attention on Nazi women’s organizations. Over four million women participated in the Frauenwerk, Nazi government-sponsored women’s activities; five million belonged to the women’s division of the Nazi Labor Front. The Nazi purpose in encouraging such organizations was to mobilize women for all aspects of the Reich’s programs: production, social control, “purification of the race,” war. Nevertheless, many of these...
