Lives of German Women vs. lives of Jewish Women
Michaela Sielaff & Rachel Rael
The lives of German women differed greatly from lives of Jewish women during the Holocaust. Some German women took part in the murdering of Jewish people. The participation of German women in genocide, as perpetrators, accomplices, or witnesses is extremely greater than previously believed. The wife of an SS guard and a mother was accused of killing 6 Jewish children. was Jewish women were separated from their families at concentration camps. Many were raped while they were in the camps.
Jewish Women - What Did They Do?
Edith Gillman served in the Navy as a WAVE. Born in Minnesota to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, she joined the WAVES because she was “determined to get away from home and do my part somehow.” In the WAVES she trained to be a pharmacist’s mate and served at a hospital base in California where she cared for mentally and physically wounded soldiers from Europe
German Women - What Did They Do?
In Nazi ideology women's most noble and patriotic duty was to produce new Aryan children. This was the most important duty for German women at the time, but also they were presured into also looking the part. They had to be athletic to help keep their hips broad (going back to the children point), they didn't want the women to wear make-up and all skirts had to be full length.
However, Germany desperatly needed workers, all the men had gone to war and Germany needed weapons to be made (money) and so, the Nazis needed the women to once again get jobs as well as being mothers to many children (Nazis also gave medals to women with the most children, 4=bronze, 6=silver, 8=gold)!
One famous German woman is Lyudmila Pavlichenko. the story of how Ms. Pavlichenko started embedding lead into German soldiers is rather interesting. At first, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Her first day on the battlefield she had numerous German soldiers in her sights but couldn't bring her self to fire because of the looks on their faces. Then the twist that ultimately doomed 309 German soldiers. The young Russian next to her was killed, and then "after that, nothing could stop me." She killed two German soldiers that day.
So how did this woman learn to shoot? By joining a shooting club at keiv at the age of 14. While most little girls are starting to flirt with boys at that age, she was learning how to kill. She even joined the army before women were even accepted.
She killed 187 soldiers at the battle of Odessa, and 257 the rest of the war. Not to mention she also killed 36 enemy snipers (one of whom already amassed 500 kills). All of this was after she had already attained her master's degree at the University of Kiev. She later became a historian
However, Germany desperatly needed workers, all the men had gone to war and Germany needed weapons to be made (money) and so, the Nazis needed the women to once again get jobs as well as being mothers to many children (Nazis also gave medals to women with the most children, 4=bronze, 6=silver, 8=gold)!
One famous German woman is Lyudmila Pavlichenko. the story of how Ms. Pavlichenko started embedding lead into German soldiers is rather interesting. At first, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Her first day on the battlefield she had numerous German soldiers in her sights but couldn't bring her self to fire because of the looks on their faces. Then the twist that ultimately doomed 309 German soldiers. The young Russian next to her was killed, and then "after that, nothing could stop me." She killed two German soldiers that day.
So how did this woman learn to shoot? By joining a shooting club at keiv at the age of 14. While most little girls are starting to flirt with boys at that age, she was learning how to kill. She even joined the army before women were even accepted.
She killed 187 soldiers at the battle of Odessa, and 257 the rest of the war. Not to mention she also killed 36 enemy snipers (one of whom already amassed 500 kills). All of this was after she had already attained her master's degree at the University of Kiev. She later became a historian