01x03 - Cougars and Fantasists

[bunniefuu]

(loud bangs & explosions)

(dramatic music)

NARRATOR: n*zi Germany,

two words synonymous

with barbarity, terror,

hate and death.

A shock defeat in World w*r One

sows the seeds for discontent

in a once prosperous nation.

Adolf Hitler, an

unassuming, uninspiring man

seizes the opportunity

to take control,

promising to make

Germany great again.

- (shouts in German) NARRATOR:

But he won't do it alone.

Willing accomplices rally

from the most

unlikely of places.

The female Fuhrers,

n*zi she-devils,

cougars, fantasists

and secret lovers

These are the forgotten Nazis.

These are Hitler's handmaidens.

- (chanting in German)

NARRATOR: When

most people think of Nazis,

they conjure up newsreel images

of row upon row of

goose-stepping stormtroopers,

invading and violating

a terrified Europe.

(dramatic classical music)

NARRATOR: But it's

worth remembering,

behind a bad man

- (yells in German)

..sometimes there lurks

an even worse woman.

Why has the role of

women in n*zi Germany

been almost entirely

airbrushed from history?

Why has an assumption been made

that half the population were not

active and powerful participants

in the rise of n*zi Germany?

- Well, here's a book from 2019.

It is the authoritative

biography of Hitler.

And do you think that any of the

women that I'm about to describe

even is in the index? No.

This is all about

the public Hitler,

what he looked like from the

outside from the men's point of view.

- In approaching this history,

one must kind of, um,

unpack all the bias that exists

as far as what we think are

our, kind of, preconceived

notions of femininity,

um, or the fact that women

that's not how they behave,

that women don't participate

in genocidal programmes,

that they're a-political.

NARRATOR: Such is the strength

of the propaganda from the period.

It's easy to see how historians

may have been seduced

by the myth of

German motherhood.

Safely cosseted in a

world of peace, love

and devotion to

husband and family,

German women

claimed to be untouched

by the moral and political

horrors swirling about them.

These romantic notions

can now be laid to rest

..by the cold, hard

facts. (sombre music)

NARRATOR: Women were utterly

complicit in the murderous regime.

(women shouting)

NARRATOR: The women who

supported Hitler and the Nazis

made an active choice,

driven by selfish opportunism

and total conviction.

Many knew exactly

what they were doing,

covering the reality

of n*zi brutality

with the soft glow of

motherhood and domesticity.

(eerie music) (dog barks)

- They played a huge role.

And their role was partly

important before the takeover.

They played such

an important role,

partly because the n*zi

male leaders ignored them.

They were so concerned

with masculine activities,

they thought, "Oh, the girls."

You know, "The little brown mice."

NARRATOR: Who were

the early female leaders

who tethered

themselves to Hitler

in the expectation that their

influence would rise with his?

Who were the wealthy

female financiers

vital to Hitler's

radical movement?

And how did the female

population of Germany

find themselves instrumental

to the Nazis' rise to power,

whether they knew it or not?

(tense music)

NARRATOR: When it comes

to Hitler's appeal to women,

it was evident

early in his career,

and grew as the n*zi's

domination increased.

But what was his own attitude

towards the women of Germany?

It didn't take him

long to understand

their value to his

populist movement.

After cooling his

heels in prison,

following a failed coup in 1923,

the so-called 'Munich

Beer Hall Putsch',

he found his female support base

was still focused and strong.

In stark contrast to

his male associates,

who'd put their energy into

squabbling and power plays.

- The men started

fighting with other men,

they were rivalling

to take over.

Uh, they were rivalling to

start their own little mini parties.

But the women followers

didn't disagree with one another.

They weren't

ambitious like the men.

And so afterwards, then

it finally occurred to Hitler

that one of the qualities

that enabled him to pull

his party back together again

were those faithful women.

NARRATOR: With the

failure of the Beer Hall Putsch,

Hitler and the National

Socialists realised

they needed a less violent,

more respectable route to power.

The ballot box.

But it was not

their natural game.

To be successful, it was going

to come down to one thing.

Finance for a decent,

vote-winning campaign.

The party was going

to have to integrate itself

with German high society.

So Hitler set about

opening the hearts, minds

and purses of the moneyed set.

And it worked,

with Hitler catching the eye

of some morally unsavoury,

yet outwardly respectable,

society queens.

Once on the hook,

these matronly women

were to become the

devoted patronesses

of the enigmatic Herr Hitler.

- So Bavaria, which is your

traditional German homeland.

Bavaria, the women there, which

is where, a lot of money down there.

They were absolutely

They were right-wing.

And suddenly, you've

got this man, Adolf Hitler,

standing up and saying, "I

will make Germany great again."

"I will put Germany where

she belongs, top of the tree."

And so, that's what

interested the women.

NARRATOR: Soon, Hitler

had hit on the perfect line

for his besotted female legion.

There'd never be a woman in his

life for them to feel jealous about.

Publicly, at least,

he'd stay a bachelor,

telling the n*zi faithful,

"My bride is Germany."

- I think Hitler hid

his relationships,

partly to embody a kind

of pure, masculine ideal.

Someone who wasn't

encumbered by domesticity,

by a wife or girlfriend.

And he became this almost

personification of masculinity.

Also, a bit like a

celebrity or a pop star,

it allowed other women

in the general population

to fantasise that they would

be Hitler's girlfriend or wife.

I think he wanted to create

an image of being without need,

without dependence.

Uh, a pure, self-sustaining,

um, hero, really.

NARRATOR: Hitler knew the

way to financing his power-play

was through exploiting

his hold over women.

(sombre music)

NARRATOR: In 1921, Hitler was

introduced to Helene Bechstein,

matriarch of the famous

piano-making family,

and prominent member

of the German aristocracy.

Not only was she

fabulously wealthy,

she was well known

for her antisemitic rants.

- She was Bechstein from

the piano manufacturers.

I mean, her husband and

she, they ran the company.

They were antisemitic,

both of them.

And Helene Bechstein was

actually, uh, boycotted by some people

because of her antisemitism.

That, of course,

appealed to them as well,

because Hitler, right from

the beginning, was clear

the stab in the back

came from the Jews.

NARRATOR: On receiving

Hitler at her mountain villa,

Bechstein took an instant liking

to the intense young politician.

And Hitler must've sensed that

here was a big fish, ready to reel in.

She began showering

him with gifts and donations,

one of which included

an open-top Mercedes

that met him at the

gates of the prison

on his release for leading

the Beer Hall Putsch.

Party insiders were quick

to notice that Bechstein,

who was thirteen

years his senior,

"lavished on him an ecstatic

and faintly maternal devotion."

- People like Helene Bechstein,

were attracted very early.

And it really helps,

if you're a fundraiser,

if a very prominent, respectable

person donates money,

that attracts more money.

And because Helene Bechstein was

so well known, and so was her husband,

with the support of

Helene Bechstein,

then other friends of the

Bechsteins also began to sign on.

(unsettling music)

- Helene Bechstein took

Hitler under her wing,

specifically to

teach him etiquette,

and how to move in the

circles of the aristocracy,

because obviously, the

support of the aristocracy

was very important

to Hitler gaining power.

One of the reasons

he gained power,

he obviously needed

the aristocracy on his side.

Most accounts suggest relations

between Adolf and Helene

never made it past the platonic.

Yet there was no doubt that

this was an intimate bond.

Hitler was to be

seen sitting at her feet,

with his eyes closed and his

head resting on her bosom,

while she stroked his hair.

The reality was

their relationship

was likely more maternal

than anything else,

with Helene even stating

she would've liked Hitler

to have been her son.

- They all became

mother figures for Adolf.

Sitting on the floor,

his head on their laps,

they're stroking his head.

You know, one of

them actually wished

that Hitler would

marry their daughter.

Didn't happen, you know.

- I mean, it would

certainly seem that

Hitler's relationship

with his mother

would be an important

template for later relationships,

and he would find it quite easy

to be the sweet, good, little boy

who's seeking help and guidance

and very respectful

to an older woman.

I mean, there's an opportunistic,

more sociopathic, side

that could be about he saw

who was gonna be useful to him.

(tense music) (cheering)

NARRATOR: Helene wasn't

the only wealthy matriarch

who would take up

the re-shaping of Hitler.

Another was Elsa Bruckmann.

Born in 1865, Elsa

was a real-life princess,

courtesy of her father,

a Bavarian prince

and a mother from

Austrian nobility.

Well-bred, she certainly was.

But she also had a keen interest

in xenophobic nationalism

and antisemitic racism.

Importantly, Elsa, wife

of a literary publisher,

and incredibly well-connected,

ran an influential salon,

where the cream of

Munich society would gather

to discuss the

issues of the day.

Elsa first encountered

Hitler in 1921,

when she was in the audience

at one of his early party speeches.

- (shouting in German)

NARRATOR: Elsa was hooked.

- (cheering)

NARRATOR: She was to become

one of Hitler's first big fangirls,

and even visited him in jail

after his failed coup attempt.

- Hitler could have

visits every afternoon.

They brought him food,

he dressed in lederhosen.

And the Bruckmanns gave

him access to a group of people

who met every couple of weeks

and discussed ideas in Munich.

And that gave

him respectability.

NARRATOR: But just like

Helene, Elsa felt it her national duty

to work on Hitler's coarseness,

his lack of social graces.

It was from her that Hitler

learned the essentials

to being a successful

political mover and shaker,

how to correctly eat lobster

and kiss a lady's hand.

What was it that drew

women like Elsa and Helene

so strongly to Hitler?

They were certainly

not the only ones

entranced by his

intoxicating power,

they also shared his

warped beliefs and ideologies.

They keenly felt

Germany's humiliation

after its disastrous

defeat in World w*r One,

and were angered by

how the victorious allies

had imposed huge

financial reparations on it

and stripped it of territory

and its overseas colonies.

Hitler, they were convinced,

would make Germany great again.

- What we see in Hitler is

the worst example,

possibly the only example,

of somebody achieving

absolute power.

This is somebody who came from

being a complete non-entity in 1919,

to a man who had the belief that

he was going to conquer the world.

So this just segued

perfectly into his self-image.

"I am the greatest man in the

world, I should control the world."

And it picked up from there.

(Hitler shouts) (crowd shouts)

- This story of a newly

heroic, newly arisen Germany

centres at first

on Hitler himself,

who has this, kind

of, Elvis quality to him.

He's a rock star.

He's a superstar.

Women fawn in his presence.

- (chanting in German)

- And he also tells this

fairy tale of this racial purity,

of German Aryan superiority,

of this Nordic body that

has this great tradition to it,

of the Vikings, conquerors.

And the role of

women in this story

is you are both promised

this strong country

and you get to be a part

of this strong country.

NARRATOR: But

one early patroness

was more significant

than all the others.

The most influential and

long-lasting of Hitler's devotees,

her name was Winifred Wagner.

- (chuckles) Winifred

Wagner was terribly influential.

Hitler, when he was in Vienna,

spent his leisure time

at operas by Richard Wagner.

And that's where he got ideas

of saviours and heroes

and Germanic myth.

And Winifred carried on the

tradition and was very political,

and invited Hitler to come

to the annual Opera Festival,

which is still a meeting place

for the German elite in Bayreuth.

(grand singing)

NARRATOR: The daughter-in-law

of world-famous composer Richard

- (applause)

NARRATOR: ..Winifred Wagner

was born in London in 1897

to an English father

and German mother.

Orphaned at the age of

three, she grew up in Germany.

Winifred was a nationalist

and rabidly right-wing,

fascinated with the n*zi

mythology of blood and soil,

the idea of racial Aryan purity,

combined with simple country life.

(children chatter & laugh)

NARRATOR: She

first met Hitler in 1923

at the annual Wagner

Festival in Bayreuth.

Before long, he was a regular

fixture in the Wagner home,

part of the family,

his politics in perfect

sync with hers.

- Hitler had always been

an opera fan. Always.

In Linz, he'd always gone

to the opera, loved the opera,

particularly loved the Wagner

operas and their themes,

those, you know,

great Germanic heroes.

So it wasn't really

difficult, then, you know,

to get the, um, the Wagner

Empire, if you like, behind him.

NARRATOR: Winifred

soon enthusiastically

joined the n*zi party.

And just like Hitler's

other patronesses,

started showering him

with donations and presents.

Her effect on him, and

his party, was profound.

(shouting & chanting)

NARRATOR: As the

1930s rolled around,

Hitler was still dogged

by his roughhouse image,

arising from the

Beer Hall Putsch

and violent clashes

between his fascist militia

and their communist rivals.

He needed an altogether

more sophisticated veneer.

Wagner's music would

help him acquire it.

When Winifred's husband,

Siegfried, died in 1930,

Winifred took

charge of the festival,

an opportunity

Hitler wouldn't miss.

- Well, the Bayreuth

Festival opened the doors

to all the other elites

in the whole country.

Through the twenties, Hitler

was always at pains to increase

his, we would call it name

recognition, outside of Bavaria.

And he wanted name

recognition abroad.

And seeing pictures

of the elite at Bayreuth

put Hitler's name

into the category of

nationally respected people.

(gentle classical music)

NARRATOR: Winifred allowed

Hitler's control over Bayreuth to grow.

(music builds)

NARRATOR: By the time

World w*r Two started,

the Nazis' stranglehold

on the event was complete.

Winifred always claimed Hitler

was unaware of any n*zi atrocities.

(sombre music)

NARRATOR: She died in 1980,

never wavering in

her devotion to him.

Throughout the 1920s and 30s,

more and more members

of German high society

were drawn to the n*zi flame.

Anger and fear about

the threat of communism

and the dire economic situation

created the perfect environment

for Hitler's nationalist vision.

- One of the reasons why

wealthy members of society

would have backed Hitler is

because he offered a dream.

He promised a dream that was

extremely compelling and powerful.

When you think about

the political situation,

the humiliation

and impoverishment

of Germany after World w*r One,

the seeds for the rise

of fascism were sown.

And so, to have a charismatic

leader come along and say,

"I will restore the

greatness to this country,

I will avenge all the wrongs

that have been done."

NARRATOR: He was their champion,

who would restore and

protect their wealth and power.

They thought they would prosper

under n*zi authoritarianism,

not realising Hitler secretly

despised their elitism

and little guessing

the depth of evil

that lay at the heart

of the n*zi party.

(gentle music) (birds tweeting)

NARRATOR: The

Nazis were working hard

to persuade the majority of

ordinary women to support them.

Although women voted for them

in fewer numbers

than men in the 1920s,

their contribution to the party's

growing popularity was crucial.

- What the n*zi women did

for the party was extraordinary.

Every time there was

a rally, they showed up.

They showed up with

pamphlets to distribute,

badges to distribute.

They collected money,

they collected charity.

When poor n*zi

families needed help,

they collected charity,

they took care of the kids.

They formed children's groups.

NARRATOR: This

wholesome community outreach

during harsh economic

times made the party look

as if it actually cared about the

wellbeing of ordinary Germans.

- When women are

taking part in things like

tending to the soldiers,

or running soup kitchens,

they are accorded

a particular status

and sense of being do-gooders,

helpers, belonging to the cause.

So they're given a very, uh

acceptable, kind of idealised

version of themselves,

and disconnected

from the horrors

that that good work

is actually supporting.

NARRATOR: The

women were relied upon

by the n*zi paramilitary

group, the Brownshirts,

for food while on duty,

and medical care

following street brawls.

Women's groups provided

money and clothing,

as well as support for the

families of political detainees.

And there were sewing

circles and book clubs

where women would

read and discuss

Hitler's writings and

other party literature.

- n*zi women

created a subculture,

so that if you were a

follower of the party,

you could go to the

n*zi singing competition,

you could join a chorus,

you could play soccer,

you could travel to go and

get reduced ticket prices

to the theatre or to the opera.

So the n*zi women

created a grassroots network

that made their followers

feel that they belonged.

NARRATOR: There was

one particular woman who,

on the strength of her work

with the sick and wounded,

could be mistaken for someone

who'd misguidedly been

swept up in the n*zi mania.

In fact, she was as ideologically

motivated as all the rest.

Her name was Eleonore Baur,

also known as Sister Pia.

She would become one

of Hitler's favourite Nazis.

Sister Pia had served as

a nurse in World w*r One,

despite not being

medically qualified.

She'd always been an

extreme right-winger,

but when she was acquitted

of a public order offence

after an antisemitic

rant at a Munich rally,

everyone, including Hitler,

sat up and took notice.

But it was during

the Beer Hall Putsch,

when Sister Pia

treated wounded Nazis,

that she cemented her

place as a hero of the party.

Adolf Hitler decided that

he would take a gamble,

and would make a bid for power.

And so, he launched an as*ault,

an attack on the

main parts of Munich,

the railway station, the

post office and so on.

Sister Pia was the only woman

who actually took part in that.

She was tending to broken

heads and b*llet wounds

because 12 Nazis

were k*lled in the Putsch.

NARRATOR: She

impressed Hitler so much,

she would be

given responsibility

for building and running

Dachau concentration camp,

where some 40,000

people would die.

While there was

never enough evidence

of Baur directly

harming prisoners,

former inmates recall extensive

bullying and suffering at her hands.

(sombre music)

She invented

this "brothel train",

which, uh, with which

she peopled prostit*tes

who were usually

Polish or Ukrainian,

who had no choice, they

were- they were brutalised into it.

And they became

prostit*tes on the train

and it would go around Germany,

offering services to the

Aryan officers, on this train.

NARRATOR: Aside from

religious radicals like Sister Pia

for whom Nazism was

an irresistible magnet,

the big question remains

What attracted women to

these misogynistic men?

- There is something about Hitler

that lots of women found appealing.

Lots of women wrote

love letters to him.

And I think there was

something about his character

that people appreciated.

And perhaps it's hard for us to look

back and understand what that was.

But I think they saw him

as maybe, erm, a rescuer

taking them out of the difficult

situation after World w*r One.

- (chanting)

NARRATOR: For Hitler,

women were politically useful.

Violence and intimidation

counted for nothing

if the party could not make

a mark at the ballot box.

He needed to woo female voters

with a homespun n*zi

image and message.

But how could they do that,

with an underlying ideology

of division and violence?

- (yells in German)

NARRATOR: Much of the draw

came from Hitler's enigmatic magnetism.

Observers described the

rapturous reception women gave him

as something akin

to sexual hysteria.

- As soon as he spoke, he

changed his personality entirely.

And I think that they,

whether man or woman,

I think they were drawn to this,

can we even say,

charismatic little guy.

- (yells in German)

- Over these years,

like, from 1921,

'til he was arrested

and put into prison,

he changed his image

from a little drummer

to the leader.

Der Fuhrer.

- (chanting)

- The rock star analogy

is quite a good one.

He would've been a rock

star of the twenties and thirties,

except he wasn't selling music.

He was selling something

a lot more dangerous.

Certainly, the

remaking of Germany.

And later, of course, all of

the abuses and the Holocaust.

That was what he was selling.

NARRATOR: Hitler's

powerful oratory,

combined with the pomp and

grandeur projected by the party,

thanks to the genius of

propaganda chief, Josef Goebbels,

helped to capture the

imaginations and emotions of many.

But other social

factors were at play too.

- I think support for the n*zi

Party, particularly from the women,

was a direct result, really, of the

tougher times or the Weimar period.

But again, it was the women

who really witnessed all this

chaos right outside their own homes,

the fighting with the

different political parties.

And the women wanted stability, they

wanted their husbands to have jobs.

And that's why I think they

found the n*zi party so attractive.

(dramatic music)

- In the Weimar Republic,

thanks to the Constitution of 1919,

women had equal

rights. They voted.

They had equal employment

opportunities, that was guaranteed.

They had guarantees of

equality in the workplace.

They had access that they never

had before to higher education.

Women had always

gone to universities,

but more women were admitted.

So it was careers

open to everybody.

NARRATOR: The problem was,

not all women wanted this change.

They were being

thrust into the frontline

of the professions

and the labour market

right at the time when

pay and conditions

had never been

tougher or less attractive.

For most, it was

exhausting, low paid

agricultural work or

assembly line drudgery.

Many married women felt

overworked and underpaid.

Discontent was brewing.

As more women

poured into the workforce,

conservative groups, who wanted

social order, became alarmed.

For them, the real

and imagined terrors

of prostitution, ab*rtion,

venereal disease,

obscenity and

rampant promiscuity

lurked in the shadow

of this social revolution.

By contrast, there

were the Nazis

and their comforting

talk of a society

harking back to a

kinder, safer past.

A time when women weren't

under pressure to work

but were content to stay at home

and be given status and respect

for fulfilling the sacred

roles of wives and mothers.

- Uh, the Weimar

Republic was probably

the freest that women

ever were in Germany.

It was this great age of

freedom and expressing yourself,

not just in Germany,

across the whole of the world.

Hitler's view was, "You don't

really want to be enfranchised

and go out to have to

work eight till five every day.

Be at home, do the job that

you're really entitled to do.

Do the job that you

really want to do,

which is raising a family

and caring for a man."

(tense music)

NARRATOR: Low paid

and dreary factory jobs,

or staying home to

care for your family?

The Nazis knew for many

women what the answer would be.

- And it shows, again,

the power of this dream,

this return to some

mythical society,

where women would

be breeders of children,

educators of children,

nurturers of children,

in the church, in the

kitchen, in the home.

And although, to us,

it would seem crazy

that women would want to

give up their emancipation

because it was

framed as evidence

of a kind of corrupted,

debased society.

(shouting & cheering)

NARRATOR: Leading the n*zi

charge against progressive feminism

was Paula Siber.

She predicted a dismal future

for the newly emancipated

German woman.

"Emancipation from

emancipation" was the n*zi slogan.

- Paula Siber was all about

professionalising motherhood.

You might even say

she was a forerunner

for Wages for Housework,

a movement in the 1970s.

Paula Siber wanted to see

motherhood elevated to a profession,

just like other

kinds of professions,

and that was her aim.

NARRATOR: Housewives in

their thousands joined a movement

in the name of family,

rather than freedom.

They worked within religious,

patriotic and civil associations

to defend traditional morality

and fight against decadence.

- They were saying, "We've

had enough of emancipation.

During the Weimar Republic,

we've seen emancipation.

And emancipation just left us

worse than we were to begin with.

We've lost the supports we've

had, the family is weakened,

our children run away,

they run off to the cities.

Give us life before

emancipation."

And that's what

the Nazis promised.

And they thought, with

a strong leader like Hitler,

there's going to be order.

NARRATOR: But Siber was by no

means the only conservative pioneer

responsible for getting German

women to back Hitler's cause.

Elsbeth Zander was another.

She passionately hated socialism

and was a fervent

supporter of the Nazis.

- She was a frumpy

housewife, oh my goodness.

She was a little overweight,

she kind of slumped around.

Then she got in

front of a crowd.

And she straightened up,

and she spoke brilliantly.

And in a way that's kind of the

double personality that Hitler had.

NARRATOR: Under what Zander

called the "holy flame of motherhood",

she campaigned for women to

join her in purifying German culture

and defend its traditional morality

against the decadence of Weimar.

Zander's campaign

struck a chord.

Woman were signing

up to her party in droves.

Her German Women's Order

was soon officially recognised

as part of the n*zi party,

and she received

official permission

to consider herself the

leader of all female Nazis.

Zander responded by

announcing that from now on

women would leave

the politics to the men

and concentrate on welfare

work and family support.

Elsbeth Zander had

undisputed authority

over women from all social

levels who were drawn to the party

by the alluring picture it

was painting of womanhood.

- And they, all of them

said, "We like KKK."

"Kinder, Kuche, Kirche."

"Children, kitchen, church."

We will do what we're good at,

and we will let the men

do what they're good at.

And wouldn't you rather rise up

to the top of your

hierarchy of all women,

than always be

second class citizens

in a world where men pretend

to respect you, but they don't?

So, that was Zander.

And then there was Mother

Mother Guida Diehl.

Her crusade in life was very

religious, she was Protestant,

and she was really

concerned about

women who had "fallen".

"fallen women"

was the polite term

for women who'd had

out-of-wedlock children,

women who'd been

abandoned by their husbands,

women who were too poor.

And she started,

independently, her own network

of houses called Neuland houses

that would give

women a second start.

NARRATOR: Born in 1868,

Guida Diehl grew up in a radically

nationalist and antisemitic family.

- (singing)

NARRATOR: Just

like Elsbeth Zander,

she was an early fan

of Hitler's racial ideology

and formed her very

own women's organisation.

But unlike Zander,

Diehl was looking to rally

the conservative and

well-educated women,

the protestant establishment,

to the n*zi standard.

People just like her.

Diehl opened a headquarters

with 500 rabid supporters

and began her fight against

what she called the anarchy

of values she so despised.

As with other female

leaders at the time,

Diehl railed against women's

rights, which, she claimed,

denigrated motherhood,

housework and women's culture.

She went as far as to call for

the elimination of paid labour

for women outside the home.

All of this was

music to Hitler's ears.

(grand trumpet music)

NARRATOR: Both Zander and Diehl

had felt imprisoned by the Weimar system

and saw the n*zi

party's traditionalism

as a German freedom movement.

They preyed on women's fears

about having to compete

alongside men in all walks of life.

Hitler offered liberation

from this alien, new world.

On behalf of the

women of Germany,

these rising stars reached

for the blue skies of n*zi ideals.

- Despite the encouragement

of the n*zi party

that all German women should be

good German mothers and stay at home,

some of the women

loved the opportunity

that supporting the n*zi

Party would bring them.

There was a sense of belonging,

and also a sense of power.

You're supporting

the leading party,

you're volunteering

for the leading party,

you're overseas

representing them.

And so, despite the narrative

that the n*zi party wanted

women to be at home to be mothers,

these women also

relished the opportunities

that supporting the

n*zi Party gave them.

(cheering and applause)

(curious music)

NARRATOR: Women

like Zander and Diehl

were allowed to create a

movement within the n*zi structure.

But they were in

danger of overestimating

their significance to

the party hierarchy.

The truth was, as long as

they kept supporting the party

- (chanting)

NARRATOR: ..the Nazis didn't

really care what they were doing.

- Nobody censored them.

Hitler, whenever somebody

disagreed with him,

or challenged his viewpoint,

Hitler would expel them,

purge them from the party.

Nobody purged women.

Men just didn't notice them.

NARRATOR: So each

major female leader

was free to set up organisations

and follow different rules

with their own objectives.

They even felt free to interpret

Hitler's ideas any way they chose.

Even with all this noise,

female support for the n*zi

party still lagged behind the men.

It would take one more

massive societal shift

to really move the

needle in their favour.

And that was the

Great Depression.

- So the Depression

hit first. 1929.

It hit Germany faster,

even, than the United States.

Unemployment, in two or three

years, became the highest in the world.

Imagine living in a country

where one out of three

workers lose their jobs.

And the unemployment

rate was one third for men,

but only ten-percent for women,

because women worked

in the lowest paying jobs.

But this disrupted everything.

It disrupted family

life. It disrupted politics.

NARRATOR: As the Great

Depression began to bite,

the female n*zi vote

rose to equal male support,

and in places,

even to surpass it.

The Weimar government

was fatally divided

and increasingly impotent in

the face of the economic malaise.

- (singing)

NARRATOR: The

n*zi party smelt blood,

and amped up the propaganda

to take advantage of the chaos.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: It was now

between them and the Communists,

while moderates were

left to die in a political ditch.

In the election of 1930,

the world watched on

as the Nazis leapt from ninth to

second place in the Reichstag.

The reason was simple.

Men had been losing their jobs

and were now

languishing at home,

while their wives

were often still working.

As many of these men

grew increasingly desperate,

women could see that

conventional German family life

was crumbling around them.

Their hopes and dreams for

the future were under threat.

The n*zi promise to reinstate

traditional gender roles,

allowing men to again

provide for their families,

proved wildly popular.

- Post World w*r One,

where the German

men, uh, Austrian men,

were feeling completely

humiliated and useless,

the idea of being

re-masculinised

would've been incredibly

exciting, exhilarating and seductive.

(dramatic music)

NARRATOR: By 1931, however,

so significant had women's

support for the party become,

that the n*zi leadership

decided to clip its wings

and bring it closer to the

mainstream party organisation.

It was decreed that all women's

associations, big and small,

were to be incorporated

into what was called

the National Socialist

Women's League.

Overnight, these organisations

fell under direct control

of the party, and

the men who ran it.

Despite all their work and

dedication to the cause,

the female leaders were

suddenly out in the cold.

In one cynical stroke,

they had been stripped of

their power and influence.

- Hitler's in power.

And all of his women followers,

Paula Siber, Guida

Diehl, Zander, everybody,

they all think, "Ah, I am

going to become the leader."

None of them did.

Suddenly, the n*zi

leaders cared about women.

(all shouting in German)

And their concern

exhibited itself

because all those

women lost their positions.

The Nazis had no idea who was

going to be in charge of women.

So their first

appointment was a man,

who had no experience

with women's anything.

But he seemed to be a good n*zi.

And so did the

dirty work of firing

and dismissing and

discrediting those women.

NARRATOR: The Women's League

eventually had a female leader,

committed n*zi

Gertrude Scholtz-Klink.

But for women, the

point had been made.

They'd been naive enough

to swallow the n*zi ideology

and ignore what the party

really thought of them.

It didn't matter that for years

they'd proved themselves

to be Hitler's loyal and

hardworking supporters.

He'd never let competent,

charismatic women gain real power.

There was to be

no honour in store,

no final prize,

no gratitude.

Instead, for these women,

it ended in bitter

disappointment and betrayal.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: The

n*zi's comforting slogan,

"Kinder, Kuche, Kirche",

"Children, kitchen, church",

was revealed to be a hollow lie.

And as the w*r ground on,

they'd become virtual

sl*ves in Germany's factories,

while their menfolk and

children died on the b*ttlefield

or in the ruins of their

wrecked towns and cities.

The reward for their unflinching

devotion to the Nazis

- (shouting & chanting)

NARRATOR: ..was

sacrifice and death.

(sombre music)