Evening star., 1933-06-25
''Husbands for All!''



Man Reichstag deputies there IS not
one woman. Nor is there Nazi woman
among the members of the state legis-
lators and municipal councillors. In
the Brown Houses Of Germany, the
headquarters of the NaH party. women
occupy only such positions as telephone
operators and charwomen. The iron
broom" with which the Nazis are
sweeping the Reich clean of Jews,
Marxists and paciflsts, has dealt ruth
lessly with women. Those women who
were placed in responsible positions by
the republican governments are now
on the black list. The teaching staffs
of the universities are being purged
Of feminine influence, and once more
the future generation will be stepped
in the traditions of the Prussian drill
sergeants.
Noting this anti-feminist policy of
the NaZis, one is reminded that Hit
ler's movement received its victory from
the hands of women. 1t was a woman
who bought daily paper and financed
Adolf Hitler's bold venture of crashing
the gate to fame. 1t was women who
cheered themselves hoarse when Ger
many's drummer staged his rallies to
catch the attention of the world. II
was women-sometimes the wives oi
Socialists and Communists-who held
up Hitler's arms in his struggle for
power.
What Is the history Of women in
Germany? The German woman has
seen her stock rise and fall through
the centuries. In the first century OF
the Christian era women were held ir
sacred awe. and were thought to pos
sess the power Of foreseeing the future
Their advice was always heard and
their responses were deemed oracular
When their women saw the ranks
give way" the Roman historian, Taci-
tus, wrote of Germania, they rushed
forward. and by the vehemence of their
cries and supplications, by exposing
their breasts to danger. they restored
the order Of battle"
Status Of Women Traced.
Twelve centuries after Tacitus wrote
these lines the women of Germany were
in a far different plight. The poor
among them were hardly better than
beasts of burden, and the best were
kept in golden cages, pampered and
admired. but prisoners just the same.
A few more centuries were drowned
in tears and blood and while men con-
tinued their heroic pursuit of killing
their neighbors, the women carried the
burden Of everyday life. AS late as
1870 a Prussian husband could dispose
of his wife's personal belongings with
out restrictions. Not long before the
World War it was still the law Of Prus-
sia that the husband might chastise
his wife physically.
When the first university degrees
were given to two German girls at
Goettingen the newspapers applauded
them. but it was the same sort Of ap-
plause that DR.. johnson gave to
preaching women and dancing dogs
They were applauded. not because they
did It well, but because they could do
it at all.
The World War saddled the German
woman with burdens which would have
taxed the endurance of most men
and she emerged triumphantly from
the ordeal. The government was
manned by parties which stood for
equality of the sexes, and they passed
the most far-reaching legislation in
favor Of women the Continent has
ever seen. When the National Assem-
bly, of the young republic met In the
theater of Weimar on February 6, 1919,
Al women deputies sat in the audito-
rum. the elected representatives OF
the nation, the largest number of
cratic country. Hundreds of women
were elected to the State legislatures
and thousands sat on the municipal
councils. Even the executive branch
of the government was thrown open to
women, and one of them, DR.. Gertrude
Banner, was appointed ministerial
at" an unexampled achievement.
Child Welfare Stressed.
1t was the woman legislators who
were the most ardent proponents of
the child welfare act of 1922, which
proclaimed for the first time the right
of the child to physical, mental and
moral development, and gave the State
the right to educate the child If the
parents failed to live up to their obi
sponsors of the social hygiene act of
1928, which made the treatment of So
cial diseases compulsory and abolished
regulated prostitution.
During the years Of the republican
era the German woman underwent a
stupendous transformation. With an
eagerness and energy Of which she had
not thought herself capable, she hewed
her way across the forest of social
prohibitions. Just before Hitler came
to power 10000 girls were students at
German universities. Hundreds of
thousands of girls were members of
sporting clubs. The traditional plump
ness Of the German woman had
Strengthened into a stylish slimness.
In the mountains and ON the plains
footing Of equality. They were mem
bers of the same groups Of youth or
ganizations, sometimes they were the
leaders Of these groups, good sports
and faithful companions. The new
woman Of Germany recognized no bar
rierS OF wealth or social cast
In the Is years of the republican re-
gime the German girl progressed more
than her ancestors had in as many
centuries. Marvellous though Germany's
achievements may have been during
the republican era, awe-inspiring as
were her fast ships, Zeppelins and
dynamos, the greatest accomplishment
OF the republic was the modern Ger
most feminine youth should be attached
to the Socialist and Communist Or
ganizations which have espoused their
cause from the beginning.
Men Guard Their Privileges.
Those who feared for mans privi-
legged position under the new order
frowned at the novel relationship of
man and woman. They did not like
the revolutionary innovation Of woman
being admitted to the bench and bar
and jury box. They resented the fact
that women were becoming stock ex-
change operators There was an out
cry of disnay when a woman became
assistant pastor in a South German
church.
A convention Of German lawyers
adopted a resolution 10 years ago that
women were unfit to practice law. A
postmaster general tried
to dislodge woman postal employees by
giving orders that they were to wear
long skirts. The Prussian state reduced
the pay Of its woman employees 10 per
cent. Members Of the Reichstag kept