BRIDES TRAIN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23593, 1 September 1938, Page 19

BRIDES TRAIN

SCHOOL IN GERMANY HOUSEWIFELY ARTS As far back as November, 1936, it was decided in Germany that all girls and young women who were engaged to marry members of the Schutz-Staffel —popularly known in foreign countries as "Storm Troopers " and locally as the " S.S " should be required to take an examination in the housewifery arts previous to marriage (states a writer in the Sydney Morning Herald). Unless they could demonstrate their ability to cook, sew, look after an infant, and generally attend to all household duties, it was necessary for them to receive instruction in such subjects until they were proficient before the marriage could take place. In the beginning, those whom this decision affected attended lecture courses at one or other of the many Reich mothers' schools, situated throughout the ■ provinces. The courses embraced all subjects that it was necessary to learn, but many of the girls were engaged in daily occupations and could not attend more than the evening lectures, which would necessitate the period of training being spread over more weeks than were actually required. GREAT POULARITY

It was felt that the best plan would be to establish, in the capital city, a special school for these brides-to-be, where they could live for the whole period of a short, intensive course, and later on when finances permitted establish similar schools elsewhere in Germany. Consequently, a location was selected on the outskirts of Berlin, a house obtained and, after months of preparation, it was opened at the end of April as the first "Brauteschule" in the Reich. A fortnight later, a similar school was opened at Tuebingen, in the province of Wurtemberg-Hohenzollern, and it will not be very long before the third takes shape in another district, so great is the demand on the part of the girls and young women who wish to receive this training. I visited Germany's first school for brides late in March, when it was nearing completion, but still in the hands of the painters and decorators. Not, unfortunately, as a prospective candidate for admission, for I straightway fell in love with the house and its surroundings. It lies on the island Schwanenwerder, in Lake Wannsee, one of the loveliest parts of outer Berlin and one of the wealthiest residential districts in the capital. Reich Minister Dr Goebbels has a house in the same district. It is far enough from the city to be restful and quiet, with almost country air, while the blue waters of the lake and the surrounding leafy woods add greatly to its charm. CHEAP COURSES.

Accompanied by Fraulein Kirmsse, the youthful leader of the Press Department of the German Women's Organisation, I wandered through the comfortable, wellequipped rooms of the two-storeyed spacious house, set in a big garden. Broad lawns, criss-crossed by neat gravel paths, alternated with beds of fragrant flowers. A special section is reserved for the girls to learn the art of growing vegetables and herbs, and later, in the kitchen, they will be taught the most practical and economical uses for each variety. Everything in the house has been so arranged that it can serve as an example to the girls in the planning of their own homes. There is, for instance, a section consisting of two rooms and a kitchen, which has been furnished and equipped at a cost of 800 reichmarks (about £BO Australian), this representing a little less than the amount of the marriage loan (one thousand marks —£loo Australian), which every girl is entitled to receive from the State. , The course at the Brides' School lasts six weeks and costs 110 reichmarks (£6 Australian), which includes everything—board and lodging, instruction, amusements, and all items incidental to the course. If a girl is not herself in a position to pay the fee for_ the course, and yet desires to take it (it is not solely reserved for finances of members of the S.S., though preference is given to them and to girls engaged to members of the army and of the S.A.), she may obtain an advance of 100 marks on her prospective marriage loan. HUGE WAITING LIST

There is no compulsion about attending the Brides' School, since nobody forces a girl to engage herself to an S.S. officer. However, to put it colloquially, being a picked body of men, they are a "good catch." But most girls in Germany realise to-day that to be well trained in all womanly occupations is a decided advantage, and the waiting list for Schwanenwerder is overwhelming. All housewifely problems will be dealt with in the various lectures given by a staff specially trained for the task.