The German girl

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Das Deutsche Mädel was a National Socialist magazine that was produced from 1933 for a female target group between the ages of 10 and 18.

Publication period

From February 1933 the magazine appeared under the title “Das Deutsche Mädel. Federal letters of the BdM "or" Federal letters of the ' Bund Deutscher Mädel ' in the Hitler Youth "(HJ). In 1934 the name was changed to “Das Deutsche Mädel. The magazine of the Association of German Girls in the HJ. ”Production of the magazine was probably discontinued during the Second World War .

Editing and editing

The publisher was initially the so-called “Reichsjugendführer” Baldur von Schirach , from 1934 onwards, according to the imprint, the “Bund Deutscher Mädel in der Hitlerjugend”. The creation of the Nazi girls' magazine was coordinated until the end by the “Reichsjugendführung” (Reich Youth Leadership): In 1933, Lydia Gottschewsky , Irmgard von Maltzahn and Gerda Zimmermann were each responsible as editors. From 1934, Hilde Munske was the chief editor, she was also the BDM official in the "Office for Press and Propaganda of the Reich Youth Leadership". According to the imprint, Lydia Schürer-Stolle was responsible for putting together that part of the magazine that was supposed to address the so-called “young girls”. At the same time, she was Jungmädel consultant for the “Reich Youth Leadership”. While the articles of the 1933 year were initially written by BDM Gau leaders and similar functionaries, significantly more letters and articles appeared from 1934 that were (allegedly) written by “girls” from across the “Reich”. This should contribute to the “hands-on character” of the girls' magazine and thus become more attractive for the target group.

Structure and design

In addition to articles about Nazi organizations or the like, the National Socialist girls' magazine mainly consisted of texts conceived as reports on experiences, of song texts, poems and large-scale photographs. The magazine placed reports on the work of the Nazi youth organizations in the foreground. On the one hand, this should make the National Socialist organizations such as the BDM interesting and attractive for the female target group, and on the other hand, the influence of state organizations on the upbringing of children and young people towards parents and the like. a. be legitimized. The u. a. Racist Nazi ideology was worked up in a way that was tailored to the target group by designing a community of “German-racial” or “German-born” girls and introducing the young readers to areas of activity such as motherhood and cultural customs that were relevant to their later existence as women in a Nazi community should be.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Laura Bensow: "Women and girls, the Jews are your ruin!" An investigation into anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda using the analysis category of gender. Marta Press, Hamburg 2016, p. 123.
  2. ↑ Laura Bensow: "Women and girls, the Jews are your ruin!" An investigation into anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda using the analysis category of gender. Marta Press, Hamburg 2016, p. 126.
  3. ↑ Laura Bensow: "Women and girls, the Jews are your ruin!" An investigation into anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda using the analysis category of gender. Marta Press, Hamburg 2016, p. 124.
  4. ↑ Laura Bensow: "Women and girls, the Jews are your ruin!" An investigation into anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda using the analysis category of gender. Marta Press, Hamburg 2016, p. 124 f.
  5. ↑ Laura Bensow: "Women and girls, the Jews are your ruin!" An investigation into anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda using the analysis category of gender. Marta Press, Hamburg 2016, p. 310 f.