Women in National Socialism Guilt and Repression
The orders in the "Third Reich" were given by men, but women were also guilty during these years - for example, as guards or doctors in concentration camps. But "evil" in female form remained a taboo for a long time after the war. In 2008, at the age of 38, writer Jennifer Teege discovers that her grandmother was the mistress of the sadistic concentration camp commander Amon Göth. What role did her grandmother play? When the National Socialists seize power in 1933, they bring harshness to all social and political life in Germany. The vast majority of Germans willingly follow the will of the dictator Adolf Hitler, accepting war, genocide and silently the persecution of the Jewish population.
Historical studies of the past decades have mainly been devoted to the role of the Wehrmacht, the soldiers or the resistance. Only in recent years has the significance of the role of women in National Socialism come to the forefront of historical research. Were the women of the "Third Reich", as Hitler wanted them to be, really just home cookers, apolitical and devoted to their role as mothers? How many were really "only" unsuspecting supporters? How many knew more? And what made women torture and kill in the name of a perfidious ideology? The four-part documentary sheds light on the different lives of women under National Socialism - followers, victims, resisters, but also perpetrators - and explores the motives for their actions.
Broadcasting on 19th of September 2023 at 05.15am on ZDF Info/ZDF
Music: POPVIRUS Library