Bridal school

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The Schutzstaffel (SS) in the German Reich made it mandatory for all SS members to obtain a marriage permit from the Race and Settlement Main Office. A prerequisite for this permit was participation in courses called bridal schools for women . In terms of its political objectives, this training was aimed at functionalizing women as part of the National Socialist population policy. Ultimately, the desired "Aryan" offspring should be promoted. Although only prescribed for members of the SS, the term “bridal school” gained popularity. In 1973 Lothar-Günther Buchheim's novel “ Das Boot ” quotes a rough soldier's joke about the “final exam in the Reichsbräuteschule”. The subject was also processed literarily by Anna Seghers in her novel “ The Seventh Cross ”, in which a young woman is engaged to an SS man.

Schwanenwerder Island

The " Deutsche Frauenwerk e. V. " , under Reichsfrauenführer Gertrud Scholtz-Klink , moved into the villa Inselstrasse 38 on the island of Schwanenwerder in Berlin-Nikolassee in the summer of 1937 and set up a so-called" Reichsbräuteschule ". In courses lasting several weeks, young girls and women were taught sewing, cleaning, cooking, housekeeping and baby care.

Husbaker

Another “bridal school” existed from 1937 to 1945 in Husbäke, Lower Saxony (municipality of Edewecht ). This emerged from the “Volkshochschulheim Edewecht”, which had been in operation since 1923, in which young women were trained in housekeeping and school-like. The facility was headed by the Oldenburg student councilor Bertha Ramsauer (1884–1947), whose pedagogy wanted to give young women the ability to choose their options independently.

This enlightened approach, however, contradicted the emerging National Socialism with its anti-individual mother doctrine. So from the beginning of the III. There is also ideological coordination in this educational institution. The range of courses has been completely redesigned. Ideologically relevant subjects such as “race studies” or genetics were introduced and manual work was increasingly taught, while intellectual work was removed from the curriculum of the adult education center. During the course, however, Bertha Ramsauer continued to try to convey her ideas about women's education.

This tightrope walk ended on September 15, 1935, when this adult education center passed into the hands of the Deutsches Frauenwerk , Mothers Service Department (Berlin). Rich. When the adult education center was handed over to the Deutsche Frauenwerk in 1935, Bertha Ramsauer's educational work also ended.

The Reichsbräuteschule in Husbäke was mentioned supra-regionally in an article in several columns published on June 18, 1944 in the “ Völkischer Beobachter / Berliner Beobachter ” under the title “ In a Reichsbräuteschule. The woman as a comrade ”.

After the Second World War , the buildings were used as a refugee camp, hospital, retirement home, house for civil protection and guest workers' dormitory. Extensive restoration and renovation work has been carried out on the site since July 2017. With the exception of the outdoor facilities, these have now been completed (November 2017) and the buildings are inhabited by the owner and tenants.

After 1945

After the war, the term was used colloquially for an educational institution with a focus on domestic economics, which was a mixture of girls' high school and home economics boarding school. It was about how to cook and sew properly, how to set tables and beds and how to become the perfect housewife .

See also

literature