Jewish Women in Nazi Germany before Emigration (Part B)
Source: Marion Kaplan, ΓÇ£Jewish Women in Nazi Germany before EmigrationΓÇ¥ in: S. Quack, (ed.), Between Sorrow and Strength, Women Refugees of the Nazi Period , (Cambridge, 1995), pp. 11 - 48.
Economic Strangulation
Rapidly, more concrete dislocations began seriously to affect women. The loss of jobs - their own, their husbands' and fathers' - threatened economic well-being. In early April 1933 a teacher reported: 'Briefly before 8:00 A.M., when I arrived at the school building ...the principal, saying "Good morning" in his customary, friendly way, stopped me, and asked me to come to his room ...When we were seated, he said, in a serious, embarrassed tone of voice, he had orders to ask me not to go into my classroom. I probably knew, he said, that I was not permitted to teach anymore at a German school. I did know, but was it to happen so abruptly? … Mr. B. was extremely sorry, he assured me ...I collected myself ...I also collected my belongings ...There was nobody ...to say goodbye to, because everybody else had gone to the classroom ...I rode home ...in the afternoon ...colleagues, pupils, their mothers came, some in a sad mood, others angry with their country, lovely bouquets of flowers, large and small, in their arms. In the evening, the lithe house was full of fragrance and colours, like for a funeral, I thought; and indeed, this was the funeral of my time teaching at a German public school.' 33 . Immediately after the "April Laws" about half of Jewish judges and prosecutor and almost a third of Jewish lawyers lost their jobs. A fourth of Jewish doctors lost their German National Health Insurance (Krankenkasse) affiliation 34 . In September the Nazis excluded Jews from the Chamber of Culture and from the worlds of art, film, music, literature, and journalism, areas in which they had been disproportionately active. Restrictions, official and unofficial harassment, and economic boycotts all increased in their frequency and fervour. As a result, many Jewish businesses, particularly small ones, were forced to shut down or sell out.
Unemployment began to plague the Jewish community. In 1933 about two-thirds of Jewish salaried employees worked in Jewish businesses and firms. With the disappearance of many Jewish firms, joblessness among Jewish employees became rampant. By the spring of 1933 nearly one-third of Jewish clerks - compared to one-fifth of the non-Jewish ones - were looking for jobs 35 . Because more than half (53 percent) of employed Jewish women worked in business and commerce, largely as family assistants (22 percent) and salaried employees (40 percent), they lost their jobs when family businesses and Jewish shops closed down 36 . Furthermore, Jewish sources estimated that three-quarters of Jewish women in business and trade were affected by the discriminatory laws and the early anti-Jewish boycotts 37 . By April 1938, over 60 percent of all Jewish businesses no longer existed, and Jewish social workers were trying to help 60,000 unemployed people. Furthermore, those businesses that lingered on tended to be either at the very top (a few banks and financial institutions) or at the bottom (independent artisans) 38 . Women rarely worked in either.
Women's economic future looked bleak. The exclusion of Jews from German universities and institutions of higher learning restricted employment possibilities. Even new admissions to trade and vocational schools were limited to1.5 percent "non-Aryans." 39 By mid-1935 the apprenticeship office for Jewish girls reported that every second young woman applying aimed to be a seamstress 40 . Before 1933, these same young women would have looked forward to business or professional careers. By 1937, when young women had shined their focus to jobs useful in countries of emigration. 24 percent of graduates from Jewish schools planned to learn a craft, largely preferring tailoring (20 percent). Sixteen percent trained for domestic service, 13 percent for commerce, and 12 percent for social work 41 . Also, Jewish community welfare organisations often gave preferential treatment to boys seeking career training. In the lint six months of 1937, Jewish organisations reported that far more boys than girls were receiving subsidies for career training or retraining 42 . The newsletter of the Jewish feminist movement announced that one provincial welfare office had given subsidies to seventy-two boys and ten girls 43 . And, lest girls harbour unrealistic notions about continuing at a university abroad, they were warned 'that Jewish girls in and out of Germany have almost no chance to study [at the university]. The few scholarships available are only for young men and it is luck . . . if a girl gets to study.' 44
Migration: Setting Up New Lives and Leaving Old Friends Behind
When the situation for Jews in Germany worsened, an internal migration took place. Economic strangulation occurred most quickly in small towns, where often more than 80 percent of the Jewish population was left destitute 45 . Furthermore, Jews attempted to escape from the personal hostility of villages and smaller towns by seeking the anonymity and, hence, relative safety of large cities. Thus, the Jewish population was in constant flux. For those left behind, the loneliness was of 'such a degree and so sudden . . . as had never before been experienced even in Jewish history.' Even the most intimate family and friendship circles shrank and those who remained did not offer solace to the lonely, for they too were suffering. One newspaper article concluded: 'We must learn how to endure loneliness.' 46 In an article on the same subject, a woman described the feeling of leaving a woman friend as "dying a little" (Partir c'est mourir un peu!) 47 . 'Female friendships depend on entirely different conditions than male friendships. There is something sisterly ...the basis is reliability and harmony of feelings, thoughts, and actions ...Parting from a friend! Last hour together. Suitcases and crates are packed, the Garniture stored, the apartment, where we celebrated happy days or quiet evenings, stands empty and ...appears almost hostile ...Will we elderly people ever see each other again? ...Will friendship last? ...Letters - what can they say! Parting from a friend! A personal story from an individual fate but also a community fate for us Jews; for who does not feel ...this tear, this shock ...during separation, emigration, departure! Partir c'est mourir un peu!' 48
Women who moved their families had to adjust their household to a new urban environment and deteriorating political circumstances and still try to maintain a relatively stable family life. There was little time to pine for those led behind. Women who stayed in big cities participated as never before in social welfare work within Jewish communities and Jewish women's organisations to integrate the steady stream of newcomers. Women often did this while preparing their own families for emigration.
Stress and Stress Management in the Family
To meet new and mounting economic hardships, Jewish housewives tried, when possible, to prepare less expensive meals, to make home and clothing repairs themselves, and to make do with less help around the house. The Nuremberg Laws (when "Aryan" household help was severely restricted in Jewish homes) left Jewish women to their own devices in running a household with greater problems, in shopping for food in increasingly hostile stores, and in doing these tasks with ever shrinking resources.
The pain of their children, who often faced antisemitism more immediately than did their parents from classmates and teachers in German public schools, disturbed both women and men profoundly as parents, but women learned of and dealt with their children's distress more directly than did men. When children came home from school, their mothers heard the latest stories and had to respond. Mothers also supervised their children's homework. Imagine the contradictory emotions of a Jewish mother who was reassured to learn that her son had sung patriotic songs, said "Heil Hitler" to the teacher, and rpraise for his laudatory essay about Hitler: ' ...[his] gross political mis-education at school would keep [him] out of trouble.' About a year later the same child, now enrolled in a Jewish school, wrote a story about Jewish resistance as a Mother's Day gift for his mother. Upon reading it, she was frightened: '[his] political awakening . . . could lead to trouble for the whole family.' 49 Principals summoned mothers to pick up their children when they were expelled from school, and these mothers then sought new schools for their children 50 . Mothers were usually the ones whom teachers phoned when children were to be excluded from class events. One mother reported that her children were not allowed to participate in any special event: 'My daughter cried, not because she couldn't go to the theatre ...she cried, because she was ostracised from the group, as though she wasn't good enough for her classmates ...I believe that the Nazi teacher was ashamed of herself now and then, when she looked into the sad eyes of my little daughter, because she phoned me several times and asked that I not send the child to school on the days when something enjoyable had been planned for the children' 51 . On Mother's Day, Jewish children had to take part in the school festivities but were not allowed to sing along. When the Jewish children protested, their teachers responded: 'I know that you have a mother too, but she is only a Jewish mother.' 52 This kind of harassment provoked many families to enrol their children in Jewish schools. Still, about half of Jewish children between the ages of six and fourteen remained in the public elementary schools, subject to torment by teachers and other children, until November 1938, when the Nazis barred their attendance.
Between 1934 and 1939 about 18,000 Jewish children left Nazi Germany for safer havens on what were called "transports of children" (Kindertransporte). Immediately after the November Pogrom, with husbands in concentration camps, it was mothers who made the excruciating decisions to send their children abroad 53 . About 8,000 children went to England, 3,400 to Palestine 54 , and the rest to other European countries and the United States 55 . There they received foster care (or, in the case of Palestine, lived on kibbutzim or in children's homes) until their parents could join them. Many parents never made it. "Children from into letters" was a phrase expressing the despair of parents who remained behind. The loss of daily intimacy with their children affected parents, but again, mothers most immediately. And, for those increasingly nervous and frightened children who stayed on - the children's transports, like other exits, never were sufficient - parents watched their opportunities dwindle. By the early war years, Jewish children found it difficult to play freely in the flesh air. The Nazis banned Jews from the parks and forests, and even small groups of children were no longer allowed to play in outdoor yards. They were permitted to play only in - and to maintain - the Jewish cemeteries 56 .
Women's organisations urged women to preserve the "moral strength to survive" and looked to Biblical heroines for role models 57 . In the face of progressively worsening living conditions, it was women who were to "make things work." It became apparent increasingly that Biblical role models would not suffice in pro-Jewish women with either the courage or the help they needed. Jewish newspapers began to deal more openly (and honestly?) with the issues plaguing families, particularly women. For example, as families moved into smaller apartments, or as others took in boarder to make ends meet, tighter living quarters caused strain. The League of Jewish Women noted this but characteristically urged women to absorb it: 'It is the duty . . . of the Jewish woman to regulate the schedule and the organisation of the household so that everyone is satisfied. She has to give her husband, the head of the household, the necessary time to be alone to relax . . . She has to adjust without being subordinate. This is more necessary than ever, given today's living arrangements. Then, living together, even with many people in tight circumstances, will bring about that kind of communal feeling that will bring peace to the household' 58 .
Among issues causing stress, cooking seemed to take a pre-eminent role because of tight budgets, limited household help, and the difficulties of acquiring kosher meat. Housewives were advised to consider vegetarian menus because they were cheaper and healthier. Although meat might be easier to prepare, demanding less time, women were told that 'good will is an important assistant in a vegetarian kitchen,' 59 and newspaper printed vegetarian menus and recipes for their readers 60 . After the Nuremberg Laws, which forbade the hiring of "Aryan" household help under the age of forty-five, a farther obstacle for Jewish housewives accustomed to some help, the C.V Zeitung ran articles entitled "Everyone Learns to Cook" and "Even Peter Cooks." 61 Highlighting cooking as a fine art, one writer compared food preparation to math, chemistry, botany, and zoology and warned against the demons lurking in stoves, on sharp knives, and in every pot. One woman, who had just begun to manage her own household in the past eight days, admitted: 'Previously I had always thought it somewhat difficult to translate Shakespeare into German . . . but today I know this is child's play compared to a five pound roast beef and a grill. I'd rather memorise several French irregular verbs (in the subjunctive!) than let myself in for the uncertain adventure of a roast goose' 62 . These articles emphasised how children, particularly daughters, could help their mothers 63 . They suggested introducing work as fun, giving children, especially small ones, permission to help out and warned against demanding too much. "Daughter exchanges," another innovation to help overworked mothers, provided a half year's training without pay to two young women who switched households. Ostensibly both girls would receive an apprenticeship and both mothers' some help 64 . It is unclear how many girls if any took advantage of these exchanges.
At a time when everyone had to pitch in, authoritarian behaviour was frowned upon, even that of the "head of the family." The justification, "that it has always been this way," was no longer good enough. One writer noted that it stemmed from a time when 'men and fathers were overvalued in comparison to women and wives.' 65 Thus, male privilege was questioned, if not overtly challenged, because authoritarian behaviour was seen as crippling to children, making them incapable of performance. That it was questioned at all, however, indicates some shift in the perception of roles and rightful authority.
Nevertheless, husbands were expected to pitch in only minimally. The League of Jewish Women, for example, suggested that since women felt called upon to do more and more for their families and more and more often became the sole support of families, men should begin to do some housework too 66 . Timidly it reminded its members: 'It won't always be avoidable, that our men will have to take part of the household duties, as is customary in North American homes. It is necessary to get together and talk about our resistance to this - a resistance found more in women than in men. . . in order to overcome it' 67 . More commonly, husbands were requested to limit their expectations. For example, one writer praised her husband for suggesting that they eat in the kitchen two nights a week, saving her the extra trouble of setting up, serving in, and clearing the dining room 68 . The writer viewed this concession as generous and a way of "simplifying" the household now that the servant had left. Moreover, husbands were urged to restrain their criticisms if the meals were not what they used to be; to try praising their wives once in a while; to close their eyes to some imperfections: 'A husband must also adapt ...We demand no sacrifices from husbands - only some consideration and ...adjusting to the changed circumstances!' 69
T, gender privilege within the family was barely modulated. Whereas writers urged a complete re-evaluation of the class privilege formerly permitted the leisured middle-class girl in light of her mother's increasing burdens, they continued to allow husbands their leisure at home. Although economic conditions had changed profoundly, with women carrying their full share of the burden, gender hierarchy remained. Why this was so is not difficult to explain: 'We must be clear that work for married women is only and may only be an expedient in an emergency . . .' 70 By proclaiming the crisis nature of women's new position, Jews, both male and female, could hope for better times and ignore the even more unsettling issue of male/female roles in the midst of turmoil.
To lighten women's load, newspapers ceaselessly urged housewives to organise, streamline, and cut back on household tasks. The C.V Zeitung, for example, introduced Frank Gilbreth, the American efficiency expert, to its women readers and suggested that because their circumstances had drastically changed, his advice would be useful. Articles offered Gilbreth's guidance regarding kitchen design, that is, ways of making a smaller kitchen into a practical workspace. They included pointers on how to save steps and hand motions, how to complete two tasks at once (such as watching children and cooking), and how to prevent exhaustion. Authors emphasised that the success of a particular meal was not simply in its execution but in whether the housewife had preserved her energy. If she had exhausted herself, the meal had failed 71 . One such article, "The Question of Aptitude in the Household," gingerly maintained that books on household reform particularly recommended "group work" and that even though it might be hard to imagine a man in the kitchen (Kann man sich in manchen Familien ueberhaupt einen Mann in der Kueche vorstellen?) group work completed tasks more quickly, more efficiently, and was often a source of "cheerfulness and animation." 72 Probably most practically, the article warned against unnecessary work, the kind that some women continued to do - according to this writer - long after their circumstances had changed dramatically 73 . As late as 1938 women could continue to read articles suggesting that they purchase time- or energy-saving kitchen utensils 74 .
Advice columns urged women to hire daily or hourly help when possible 75 . In what must have been desperation, leaders urged that young men be hired to help in the household. While leaving gender roles intact within the family, male helpers solved two simultaneous problems: relieving housewives and lowering unemployment for men. Although they could not be expected to do all the housework, they could certainly lend a hand. Men and women were reminded that the most important tasks in a household were often performed by men (e.g., cooks and butlers); that men had learned the rudiments of cooking, sewing, and cleaning as students, soldiers, and bachelor; and that men in North American households (allegedly) did a multitude of tasks from the most lofty to the most humble 76 . Despite such suggestions, very few housewives hired young men to help out 77 .
References:
33. Memoirs of Hanna Bergas, LBI, 2.
34. Schleunes, 109.
35. Rosenthal, ΓÇ£Trends,ΓÇ¥ 262.
36. Blaetter des Juedischen Frauenbundes (hereafter cited as BJFB ) 1 (1934): 7. IF , Feb. 23, 1933, no. 8: 9. Juedische Wohlfahrtspflege und Sozialpolitik [Berlin] (hereafter cited as JWS ), no. 2 (1931) 77ΓÇô8.
37. BJFB , March 1935: 2. By 1936, many areas of small business, particularly those associated with agriculture, were declared judenrein or ΓÇ£free of Jews.ΓÇ¥ Schleunes, 145.
38 Avraham Barkai, ΓÇ£Der wirtschaftliche Existenzkampf der Juden im Dritten Reich, 1933ΓÇô1938,ΓÇ¥ in Arnold Paucker, ed., The Jews in Nazi Germany, 1933ΓÇô1943 (Tuebingen, 1986), 156ΓÇô7.
39. BJFB , March 1935: 4.
40. BJFB , May 1935: 5.
41. BJFB , Feb. 1937: 2ΓÇô3.
42. Informationsblaetter , Aug./Oct. 1937: 59ΓÇô60. At that time 863 people (546 men and 317 women) received some support, that is, 63 percent of the recipients were male.
43. BJFB , March 1938, 3.
44. C.V Zeitung , March 3, 1938: 6. The article was written by Hannah Karminski of the Juedischer Frauenbund .
45. David Kramer, ΓÇ£Jewish Welfare Work under the Impact of Pauperisation,ΓÇ¥ in Paucker, ed., The Jews in Nazi Germany , 183.
46. ΓÇ£Erlebnis der Einsamkeit,ΓÇ¥ C.V Zeitung , March 10, 1938: 3.
47. ΓÇ£Abschied von einer Freundin,ΓÇ¥ IF , June 25, 1936.
48. Ibid.
49. Steve J. Heins, ed., Passages from Berlin (South Berwick, Mass., 1987), 73ΓÇô6.
50. Memoirs of Erna Segal, LBI, 78ΓÇô9.
51. Richarz, Juedisches Leben , 234.
52. Ibid.
53. Rita R. Thalmann, ΓÇ£Juedische Frauen nach dem Pogrom 1938,ΓÇ¥ in Paucker, ed., The Jews in Nazi Germany , 297.
54. Jehuda Reinharz, ΓÇ£Hashomer Hazair in Nazi Germany,ΓÇ¥ in ibid., 334.
55. Herbert Strauss, ΓÇ£Jewish Emigration from Germany: Nazi Policies and Jewish Responses,ΓÇ¥ Leo Baeck Institute Year Book (1980): 328.
61. IF , March 19, 1936. C.V Zeitung , Feb. 27, 1936.
62. C.V Zeitung , April 23, 1936.
63. ΓÇ£Junge Maedels lernen der Mutter helfen,ΓÇ¥ CV-Zeitung , April 9, 1936. ΓÇ£Haeusliche Erziehung,ΓÇ¥ IF , May 21, 1936.
64. IF , March 19, 1936.
65.IF , March 21, 1936.
66. BJFB , Oct. 1938: 14.
67. BJFB , Oct. 1938: 4.
68. IF , May 19, 1938: 19.
69. Ibid.
70. IF , July 14, 1938: 12.
71. CV-Zeitung , April 23, 1936.
72. CV-Zeitung , May 27, 1936.
73. Ibid.
74. CV-Zeitung , March 17, 1938: 11.
75. IF , March 19, 1936.
76. IF , March 26, 1936.
77. Illo L. Heppner told me that her mother hired a young male helper who seems to have done everything wrong. Conversation at the German Historical Institute, Washington, D.C., Dec. 1991. Also, see the memoirs of Elizabeth Bab, LBI, 179.
