The National Socialist Women's League (german: Nationalsozialistische Frauenschaft, abbreviated ''NS-Frauenschaft'') was the women's wing of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

. It was founded in October 1931 as a fusion of several

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

and

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

women's associations, such as the German Women's Order (german: Deutscher Frauenorden, DFO) which had been founded in 1926. From then on, women were subordinate to the NSDAP Reich leadership. Guida Diehl was its first speaker (''Kulturreferentin''). The ''Frauenschaft'' was subordinated to the national party leadership (''Reichsleitung''); girls and young women were the purview of the League of German Girls (''Bund Deutscher Mädel'', BDM). From February 1934 to the end of World War II in 1945, the ''NS-Frauenschaft'' was led by Reich's Women's Leader (''Reichsfrauenführerin'') Gertrud Scholtz-Klink (1902–1999). It put out a biweekly magazine, the ''

NS-Frauen-Warte The ''NS-Frauen-Warte'' ("National Socialist Women's Monitor") was the Nazi magazine for women. Put out by the NS-Frauenschaft, it had the status of the only party approved magazine for women and served propaganda purposes, particularly supporti ...

''. Its activities included instruction in the use of German-manufactured products, such as butter and rayon, in place of imported ones, as part of the self-sufficiency program, and classes for brides and schoolgirls. Richard Grunberger, ''The 12-Year Reich'', p 258, During wartime, it also provided refreshments at train stations, collected scrap metal and other materials, ran cookery and other classes, and allocated the domestic servants conscripted in the east to large families. Propaganda organizations depended on it as the primary spreader of propaganda to women. The ''NS-Frauenschaft'' reached a total membership of 2 million by 1938, the equivalent of 40% of the total party membership.Payne, Stanley G. 1995 ''A History of Fascism 1914-1945'' University of Wisconsin Press, Madison p. 184 The German National Socialist Women's League Children's Group was known as ''"Kinderschar''". Ns frauenschaft lapel pin Moment

References

External links

Die NS-Frauenschaft
at ''Lebendiges Museum Online''.

(NS women's policy and women's organisations] at ''Lebendiges Museum Online''. {{authoritycontrol Women's organisations based in Germany Nazi Party organizations Women's wings of political parties Women in Nazi Germany 1931 establishments in Germany 1945 disestablishments in Germany Organizations established in 1931 Organizations disestablished in 1945