GERMAN WOMEN’S PLIGHT

Evening Star, Issue 22805, 13 November 1937, Page 3

GERMAN WOMEN’S PLIGHT

DEPTHS OF DEGRADATION PROMISCUOUS CHILD-BEARING OFFICIALLY ENCOURAGED Nazi Germany in its repopulation aspect presents the picture of a vast incubator, writes Walter Brockman and T. Elftexwalde in ‘ Current History.’ It is kept at the required temperature by a hot-air apparatus designed by the Minister of tho Interior and operated by the Department of Eugenics with a staff of engineers whose duty it is to see that the supply never runs out and the air never cools. What emerges from this modern breeding machine is the Nordic hero and the future bearer of the Nordic hero. In reality this incubator is simply turning out probably the biggest and bumpingest crop of illegitimate babies ever produced. _ Though for obvious reasons statistics on this subject are not yet made available, the literature is increasing in which the illegitimate child and the unwed mother are being “ hallowed and protected.” Not that the German officials admit that they are no longer distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate Germans, or that they encourage the people to regard every woman providing one more hero for the Fatherland as having done an honourable task, whether wed or unwed. Nevertheless, the word was given out, and the departments are normally and no doubt financially supported, as well as the newspapers and periodicals approved, through which this propaganda “ educates ” the people. This evangel of “ children at any price ” will continue until pressure of opinion is brought from abroad or from powerful quarters at home, at which time those responsible will forget that as eariy as a few months alter the Nazis had come to power articles began to appear in the chief women’s mazarines circulating among the housewives of the lower middle classes, shop girls, maid servants, and such throughout the country, launching a crusade for babies in and out of wedlock. These articles wore all the morp-. efficacious when penned by a woman doctor who addressed herself to her readers with all the passionate devotion the cause of woman and the fundamental rights of every woman:— “It is the sacred duty and the inalienable right of every woman to have children . . . you are all responsible for breaking down tho propaganda carried on against your rights by the misgovernment from which your Fulmer has saved you. . . . Only women under Marxist influence would stop like cowards to think who will look after the children they bring into the world. . . Did the Teutonic woman over think of things like these? No., She went ahead and did her duty to herself bv giving heroes to her race. “ The German woman of to-day shall do the same. ...” But things are showing signs of having got a little out of control as is indicated in information vouchsafed by the more interpid of tho doctors, to the effect that the maternity wards in all tho country’s public hospitals are overcrowded. A high percentage of the patients are 1-5 years old or thereabouts. Suggestively enough) a conference was held* in Berlin recently on the alarming spread of child-motherhood. But nothing materialised therefrom. It may bo surprising to know that the most prolific hot-beds for this fungus crop are those two Nazi innovations, the Landjabr (year’s compulsory work on farms) and the Arbeitsdienst (labour service). Under the Hitler regime all the working and potential working girls of Germany between tbeir school-leaving age and the age of 25, in order to continue or become eligible for employment, must prove one year’s work on a farm. The education in the ideals of reproduction, together with the State protection accorded to all fathers, have had the results that might be expected. And now the responsible guardians of the people’s weal are trying to sidestep the issue, as«may bo seen in the following semi-official declaration lately issued by the Race Politics Department of the Government Whoever proclaims marriage and the fa.mly to be reactionary and elements of the _ literalistic epoch, is guilty either of misunderstanding or of conscious treason against tho most sacred institution of our people. . . . With the overwhelming majority of illegitimate children at the present moment, there can be no ‘ improving a vitiated race.’ ” In an article entitled ‘ A Frank Word in Support of the Unmarried Mother,’ tho conclusion- was this: “ Illegitimate children as a _ rule, because they are • love children, are : racially far superior to those who come into the world as a result of delirium of senses, or mere habit, or of moral defectiveness.” _ The idea is continued in further articles, thus, “We are overturning outworn prejudices and have set ourselves to clear the way for the healthy Aryan human being. The marriage vows should not be allowed to be an obstacle to the fulfilling of the natural urge. . . ” This natural urge, however, is proving expensive to the national Socialist cashbox.

Throughout the centuries and in all countries, the Catholic Church has encouraged large families. This is a right and honourable policy. But the proportions to which promiscuous childbearing has reached in Hitler’s Reich since its inauguration is indicated in the protest of Cardinal Bertram of Breslau, who cites one, of the Nazi “ principles ” in a stinging condemnation: “To the farmer, marriage means heirs and nothing else. He therefore looks upon it as obvious to have intimate intercourse with his prospective wife before the civil and church marriage. If it transpires that this intercourse leads to- nothing, then, according to the farmer's way of the thing, the thing is useless—indeed harmful, and it would be even immoral to let it come to marriage at all.” To this the Cardinal states that it is further debasing the country’s moral standard, which was low enough to begin with. As if the depths of degradation had not already been plumbed by the German woman, a book, recently published in London by the Union for Justice and Freedom, describes poignantly the burdensome life and the punishments inflicted in German prisons. A different idea of the slogans of “ Honour Woman,” and “ Honour the Mother,” as so often mouthed by the Nazis, is gained from reading an appeal smuggled by some women out of a prison: “ If you receive those lines, you will know that we all risked our lives in order that you might learn the truth about martyrdom. The National Socialists have no consideration for women. Not even for frail women—even those arc ill-treated in the most horrible manner with sticks and whips. Some are tied to posts for hours while being cross-examined. ...” Furthermore, the book lists 229 women who were indicted, giving, name, crime, date of indictment, degree and type of punishment (whether

captivity, house of correction, or concentration camp)—everything is recorded carefully; the facts of high treason, opposition to wage. questions, formation of the German Socialist Party, of the German Communist Party (high treason for this), for instigating outrages, engaging in Bible study, tearing down placards, outrages abroad, spreading rumour, etc.; for these crimes, convict prison or gaol was meted out from one year to five years, to women of the proletariat, middleclass, Catholics. Happily some of the women’s fates have been brought to an end. Hanged 1 Shot! are the words penned in beside their names in the records. But weeks, months, and years of imprisonment complete what abuse does not immediately achieve. Hour by hour the days trickle on. Work for the imprisoned women consists in sorting peas, pasting cellophane and parchment paper bags, knitting pullovers, sewing men’s shirts, women’s dresses, sleeping bags, swastika pennants, window flowers for the national railway,' making paper roses,, etc. Each seamstress has a machine in her cell, and if two women are quartered in one, two machines are installed regardless of the question of comfort. “ I, myself,” says our correspondent, “ have pasted 118,000 pieces in 15 months.” One tiny cell, roomy enough for one captive, but containing two, or three, has to do as living-sleeping-workroom for the harassed, hungry captives, who slave, slave, slave—l2 to 14 hours, , The pay for 1,600 paper bags totals eightpence; for knitting a model pullover, 24 pence. Half of the wages is deducted as reserve and paid after the term is completed, the other half then is house money. The standard of living for prisoners in Germany has been considerably reduced and they now have to be kept out of their own earnings. When one considers the difficulties of getting food in Germany normally, one has an idea of the position of these women. Actually they are hungry; all are undernourished and suffer from epidemics of illnesses. No medical attention,, of course, is provided, and no medicine, whatever, available. The German woman has always been regarded as the symbol of subordination. But in view of the facts just outlined it is hardly necessary to comment on the depth of her present level.