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Frauen in Der Ns-Bewegung

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Frauen in Der Ns-Bewegung MICHAEL H. KATER FRAUEN IN DER NS-BEWEGUNG Die Stellung der Frau im Nationalsozialismus ist bis heute noch nicht endgültig ge­ klärt. In groben Zügen ist geläufig, daß es in der Zeit von 1919 bis 1945 für deutsche Frauen im wesentlichen zwei Möglichkeiten gegeben hat, sich der NS-Bewegung an­ zuschließen: einmal durch aktive Mitgliedschaft in der NSDAP und dann, zusätzlich nach 1933, durch Eintritt in bestimmte Kaderformationen, die der Partei mehr oder weniger eng anhingen. Durch die gründlichen Untersuchungen von Jill Stephenson und Dörte Winkler ist hinlänglich bekannt, daß das Verhältnis von Frauen einerseits und nationalsozialistischer Bewegung andererseits ein sehr zwiespältiges gewesen ist1. Frühe Beobachter haben die Anwesenheit der Frau in der NS-Bewegung kaum wahr­ genommen; nur wenige haben sich bemüht, sie näher zu erläutern. Der sozialdemo­ kratische Publizist Carlo Mierendorff etwa meinte 1930 lakonisch, Frauen spielten in der NSDAP „keine hervorstechende Rolle"2. Schon Mierendorff aber hätte die relati­ ve Abwesenheit der Frauen von Hitlers Partei auf eine Mischung aus nationalsoziali­ stischer Weiberfeindlichkeit und einer - augenscheinlich komplementären - weibli­ chen Aversion gegen NS-ausgerichtete Politik zurückführen können. Heute wie damals steht außer Zweifel, daß die aus männerbündlerischen Neigun­ gen gespeiste Einstellung der Nationalsozialisten gegenüber Frauen zum großen Teil von Hitler selbst herrührte. Er war es, der 1924 Dr. Mathilde von Kemnitz, immerhin einer voll qualifizierten Nervenärztin, mitteilen ließ, sie habe nicht Reichstagsmit­ glied zu werden, denn „neunundneunzig Prozent aller Beratungsgegenstände sind Männerdinge, die Sie nicht beurteilen können"3! 1927 publizierte Hitler dann seine Ansicht in Mein Kampf, daß Frauen vor allem Zuchtmaterial für künftige Soldaten zu sein hätten und daß sie, den Männern Untertan, ins Heim, an den Herd und in den 1 Die Forschung für diesen Aufsatz wurde zu verschiedenen Zeitpunkten von der Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung (Bonn), der Guggenheim-Stiftung (New York) und vom Canada Council Killam Program (Ottawa) unterstützt. Den Stiftungen sei hiermit gedankt. Außerdem danke ich meinen Kollegen Ernst Hanisch und Gerhard Botz (Salzburg), Eike Hennig (Kassel) und Wolf­ gang Schieder (Trier), die mir im Frühjahr 1980 Gelegenheit zum Vortrag über Teilaspekte dieser Arbeit gaben und von deren Kritik ich sehr profitieren konnte. Meinen Kollegen Renate Briden- thal (New York) und Richard F.Hamilton (Montreal) danke ich für wichtige Literaturhinweise. - Jill Stephenson, Women in Nazi Society, London 1975; dieselbe, The Nazi Organisation of Women, London 1981; Dörte Winkler, Frauenarbeit im „Dritten Reich", Hamburg 1977; diesel­ be, Frauenarbeit versus Frauenideologie. Probleme der weiblichen Erwerbstätigkeit in Deutsch­ land 1930-1945, in: Archiv für Sozialgeschichte 17 (1977), S. 99-126. 2 Gesicht und Charakter der nationalsozialistischen Bewegung, in: Die Gesellschaft 7 (1930), I, S. 489-504, Zitat S. 501. Eine Ausnahme macht Theodor Heuss, Hitlers Weg. Eine Schrift aus dem Jahre 1932, hrsg. v. Eberhard Jäckel, Tübingen 1968 (Erstdruck 1932), S. 133 ff. 3 Aus Hitlers Erinnerung wiedergegeben am 6. 1. 42 im Führerhauptquartier, in: Adolf Hitler. Mo­ nologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941-1944. Die Aufzeichnungen Heinrich Heims, hrsg. v. Wer­ ner Jochmann, Hamburg 1980, S.235. Frauen in der NS-Bewegung 203 Kreis ihrer Kinder gehörten4. Parteifunktionäre wie Alfred Rosenberg und Hermann Esser empfanden ähnlich wie der Führer. Ihre Scheu, ihre Überheblichkeit, ja ihre Feindseligkeit gegenüber Frauen war biologistisch und militaristisch fundiert; sie standen ganz im Zeichen einer Opposition zum Liberalismus westlicher Prägung5. Daraus wird verständlich, warum Frauen seit Januar 1921 von Führerstellungen in der NSDAP formell ausgeschlossen waren. Noch im August 1927 wurde es einem Zug von Frauen in selbstgeschneiderter Nazi-Kluft verweigert, während des Nürn­ berger Parteitages vor Hitler zu defilieren6. Auch während des Dritten Reiches war Frauen der Zugang zur Politik gewöhnlich gesperrt. So hieß es in Ostpreußen wenige Monate vor Ausbruch des Zweiten Weltkrieges, örtliche NS-Funktionäre sollten mit ihren Frauen nicht über Politik plaudern; vielmehr seien Frauen dazu da, „sich schön zu machen, die Politik ist unsere Ansicht"7. Trotz alledem läßt sich an der Feststel­ lung nicht rütteln, daß deutsche Frauen Adolf Hitler nicht nur in demokratischen Wahlen - vor 1933 - bestätigt, sondern daß sie sich in der „NS-Kampfzeit" ebenso wie in der Regimephase des Dritten Reiches auch zu aktiven Mitkämpferinnen des Nationalsozialismus profiliert haben. Diese Paradoxie mag nur schwer aufzulösen sein. Im folgenden soll versucht wer­ den, die Rolle der Frau in der NS-Bewegung schärfer als bisher zu umreißen, und zwar gerade vom sozialgeschichtlichen Gesichtspunkt aus. Dabei werden die wichtig­ sten NS-Organisationsformen für Frauen zu berühren sein. Abschließend wäre dann der Frage nachzugehen, inwiefern der Nationalsozialismus für einen Teil der deut­ schen Frauen bestimmte sozialpolitische Verheißungen bedeutet hat und inwieweit diese möglicherweise in Erfüllung gegangen sind. 4 Mein Kampf, 26. Aufl., München 1933, S. 455, 459 f. Vgl. dazu auch August Kubizek, The Young Hitler I Knew, Westport (Conn.) 1976, S. 152, 186. 5 Siehe dazu Alfred Rosenberg, Der Mythus des 20. Jahrhunderts. Eine Wertung der seelisch-geisti­ gen Gestaltenkämpfe unserer Zeit, 41. - 42. Aufl., München 1934, S. 482-522; derselbe, Letzte Aufzeichnungen. Ideale und Idole der nationalsozialistischen Revolution, Göttingen 1955, S. 182, 185; Hans Beyer, Die Frau in der politischen Entscheidung, Stuttgart 1933, S.72-75; Albert Krebs, Tendenzen und Gestalten der NSDAP. Erinnerungen an die Frühzeit der Partei, Stuttgart 1959, S.203; Saul K. Padover, Experiment in Germany. The Story of an American Intelligence Officer, New York (N. Y.) 1946, S. 143; Erwein von Aretin, Krone und Ketten. Erinnerungen ei­ nes bayerischen Edelmannes, hrsg. v. Karl Buchheim u. Karl Otmar von Aretin, München 1965, S. 188 f.; Richard J. Evans, German Women and the Triumph of Hitler, in: The Journal of Mo­ dern History, accepted for demand publication, abstract in vol. 48, no. 1 (März 1976), S. 18; Tim Mason, Women in Germany, 1925-1940. Family, Welfare and Work, I, in: History Workshop 1 (1976), S. 87 f. 6 Georg Franz-Willing, Die Hitlerbewegung. Der Ursprung 1919-1922, Hamburg u. Berlin 1962, S. 82. Örtlich bedingte Ausnahmen von dieser Regel hat es gegeben: siehe dazu Wilfried Böhnke, Die NSDAP im Ruhrgebiet 1920-1933, Bonn-Bad Godesberg 1974, S. 47. Zu Nürnberg das Dok. in: Ernst Deuerlein (Hrsg.), Der Aufstieg der NSDAP in Augenzeugenberichten, Düsseldorf 1968, S. 279. 7 Stichworte für Rede Ortsgruppenleiter-Tagung 14./15.1. 1939, Gauarchiv Ostpreußen, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Staatliches Archivlager Göttingen (Mikrofilm Staatsarchiv Bückeburg) (im folgenden zitiert als SAG), SF 6815, GA/6. 204 Michael H. Kater I Frauen sind der NSDAP nachweislich von Anfang an beigetreten, doch waren sie im Vergleich mit der Reichsbevölkerung seit 1919 deutlich unterrepräsentiert. Während Frauen in der Bevölkerung stets etwas mehr als fünfzig Prozent ausmachten, erreich­ ten sie in der Partei in der Spanne von 1919 bis zum „Hitler-Putsch" vom November 1923 nie mehr als etwa zehn Prozent8. Ganz selten taten sich einzelne Frauen, wie in Göttingen im März 1922, unter den Gründungsmitgliedern einer neuen NSDAP- Ortsgruppe hervor9. Es scheint festzustehen, daß Frauen sich ab Sommer 1921 in eben dem Maße von der Partei abwandten, wie sich der maskuline und sogar para­ militärische Charakter der NSDAP, etwa nach Aufstellung der SA, herauskristalli­ sierte10. Auch nach der Neugründung der NSDAP im Februar 1925 gelangte der Mit­ gliedsanteil der Frauen nicht über die Zehn-Prozent-Marke hinaus. Obschon es re­ gionale Unterschiede in der Rekrutierungsstärke gegeben hat, lassen sich diese bis heute nicht überzeugend mit soziologischen, ökonomischen oder psychologischen Gesetzmäßigkeiten umschreiben. Beispielsweise betrug die Rate weiblicher Neu- Mitglieder Februar 1926 in Essen nur ca. drei Prozent, und in Bochum von 1925 bis 1928 fünf Prozent, aber in Barmen, am Rande des Ruhrgebiets, war sie 1925 unge­ fähr dreizehn Prozent11. Daß der niedrigere Anteil in Essen und Bochum auf einer 8 Tab.6 in Michael H.Kater, Zur Soziographie der frühen NSDAP, in: VfZ 19 (1971), S. 124-59, hier S. 152. Die anderen Berechnungen nach James P. Madden, The Social Composition of the Nazi Party, 1919-1930, Diss. phil., University of Oklahoma 1976, S.75, 78, 86, 93; Franz-Wil- ling, S. 129; Donald M. Douglas, The Parent Cell. Some Computer Notes on the Composition of the First Nazi Party Group in Munich, 1919-21, in: Central European History 10 (1977), S. 55-72, hier 65, 67. Siehe auch Polizeipräsident Runge an Staatskommissar für öffentliche Ord­ nung, o. O. [Köln], 27. 4. 22, abgedruckt in: Peter Schmidt, Zwanzig Jahre Soldat Adolf Hitlers. Zehn Jahre Gauleiter. Ein Buch von Kampf und Treue, Köln 1941, S. 44 f. 9 Die Frauenarbeit in der Göttinger Ortsgruppe der Nationalsozialistischen Deutschen Arbeiter Partei, 1922-35, o. J., Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace (Stanford), NSDAP- Hauptarchiv (Mikrofilm) (im folgenden zitiert als HIS), 13/254. 10 Vgl. die Werte bei Douglas, S.65, 67; NSDAP-Mitgliedsliste für Ingolstadt und Umgebung, 1922/23, Staatsarchiv München (im folgenden zitiert als SAM), NSDAP/122; Kater, S. 127 und Tab. 5, S. 151. Dagegen ist die
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