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Datum: Sonntag, den 12. Dezember 2004, um 22:25 Uhr

Betrifft: HLT-Kirchenzeitschrift 1937: Die deutsche Frau von heute

THE GERMAN GIRL OF TODAY
By ELIZABETH H. WELKER
Directing Women’s Activities in the German-Austrian Mission

Woman’s work here is equal to that of any country i know anything about. The German girl knows the value of food, the purpose of clothing, and the meaning of health.

THE German girl of today has a most wholesome outlook upon life. First of all imbued with the ideal of her nation, "To build a superior race," she is doing all in her power to build a strong, vigorous body. She has no false ideals about "a slender, willowy form." To be thin is neither beautiful nor healthy looking in the eyes of the German people; rather it is an indication or confession that she is not quite normal, and everyone shrinks from that.

She has no false notions about food. All luxuries are simply taboo. So, knowing food values, she wastes little money on foods that will not do all they should in building a perfect body. Right or wrong, she is taught that sugar should be used sparingly and she uses all sweets sparingly, if she uses them at all.

She knows that tobacco has no food value so asks, "Why use it?" And I dare say less tobacco is used by the girls of Germany than by those of any other nation. Again, tobacco is a luxury and it is a confession of weakness to indulge in luxuries, and, above all things, she prides herself on her strength, and the use of tobacco is not conducive to building strength.

Not only does she know food values, but she knows the value of food and how essential it is to help build a strong, healthy body. She carries food with her wherever she goes; she eats between classes at school. If she goes to town, she carries a sandwich, not a sweet and not an ice. When she is hungry, it is food she needs and she supplies it. Even at the opera she has her sandwiches of dark bread and ground meat. Right or wrong again, the German people teach her she should eat frequently. Have you noticed how many scientists are teaching the same thing today?

She has no false ideas about clothes, either. She knows when it is cold her body should be covered, and it is. Her underclothing has a definite purpose, and that purpose is not to be seen. Woolen sweaters are far more essential in her wardrobe than is silk. Nor has she any false notions about "high insteps that demand high heels." She knows her shoes and those she wears permit her to walk ten miles any day, or thirty miles if she chooses, which she frequently does, for she knows the value of walking to her body-building process.

The entire German nation is imbued with this health program. It goes strongly for "sun-tan," and the deeper the shade, the more popular.

"Make-up" is a luxury, and almost wholly unused by girls here, for in addition to the luxury side, German people have an almost primitive dislike for it. Long hair is favored and the characteristic hair dress is the long braid over each shoulder.

I have read "when a German youth comes to court a German girl he finds her pedigree chart hung in the front hall," but long before he comes to call he has looked her over as a possible mother for his children, and unless she measures up to his ideal of at least a perfect body, he does not call. Motherhood is the ideal of this entire people. Every girl knows that the greatest thing she can do for her country is to give it good, healthy children.

GERMAN people, both men and women, "accept work as the daily God-sent task;" thus work is raised from a merely material point of view. Each German is made to feel that his work, no matter how humble, is his contribution to German life and each is made to feel that all work is honorable whether it is street cleaning or that of a highly trained mindâ€”one just as necessary as the other. Recently we attended the opening of a new highway. Many state officials were there. When the ceremony was over, trucks had been provided, and every man who had done any work on the highway, with his family, was given the opportunity to ride over it before even state officials could do so.

However these people are taught that where one works for hours and nerves are strained, an occasional relaxation is necessary, because it is a solemn duty to keep their bodies at the highest point of efficiency. "The object of all organization of leisure must always be, according to our conviction, to show people their own possibilities, to teach them to face their daily work with pleasure, to know and to be able to develop the best in themselves, to have clear eyes and a happy heart." So Germany has an organization, national, known as the Kraft Durch Freude (Power through joy) whose work it is to direct physical activities, or a program to develop the same. "Here we do not aim at sensational achievements, but use exercises as a foundation for a healthy body." Thus the schools offer no fancy, useless courses in physical education; every exercise has its place in the building of strong muscles, for every muscle must be developed.

Not only do the schools teach physical exercise courses, but the nation is so organized that every individual may belong, in fact is urged to belong, to some group engaged in either swimming, rowing, gymnastic or some form of physical development. It is a most common sight to see thousand of men, women, and children out on Sunday mornings on a public street or course, competing in some form of physical activity. The whole nation is playing and encouraged more and more to play.

Perhaps nowhere in the world has the idea of a yearly vacation for everyone worked out so successfully as in Germany. The Kraft Durch Freude has worked out a system of vacations and reduced the price of traveling so that practically every person may travel throughout Germany for a vacation. "We want people to take a journey once a year and enjoy themselves in the company of others in order to open their eyes and hearts and return to their work with new thoughts and energy. In 1934 we had two million such travelers; in 1935 the number increased and exceeded five million, 45 per cent of which were women." A savings account is encouraged throughout the year for such a journey. But the real beauty of the plan is seen in the joy it has brought into the lives of the mothers of the nation. "The working wife and mother certainly carries the heaviest burden all over the world, and we German women have tried to improve her lot" is a quotation from Dr. Schlos-Klink, sometimes called the German woman’s Fuehrer.

Did you expect to hear that such a movement was working successfully in Germany? Thousands of university girls are donating their own vacation periods to take the place of the mother who works in a factory, the girl to do her work and the mother to have a vacation at full pay. Even mothers in busy homes get their vacations. Either one of these girls replaces her while she travels with the Kraft Durch Freude group or goes to one of the numerous recreation homes for mothers, or else the family is taken care of by the volunteer service of the N. S. V. Formerly these mothers did not go on vacations because of the financial loss which arose thereby, but when this service is given her, she, too, joins the great army of vacationists. The university girl who gives her time receives free room and board so that it costs her nothing but her time, and that is her proud contribution to her country.

To those of us who have heard that only ten per cent of the German girls were allowed in college, it was rather a surprise to find that any girl who has satisfactorily passed her under-school examinations is welcomed in the universities, but before entering she must have credit for six months’ work in the Arbeit Dienst (work service) camp. This work brings her near the mothers and real workers of the country and teaches her how necessary work is in life and relieves her of any false notions she may have had about the "under class." That this is a real education for her is attested to by the fact that she cheerfully goes back during her vacation periods to relieve others, more burdened than herself.

Again I say that the German girl has a most wholesome outlook on life and is playing her part in the program of her country and in many ways has she shown that she will do her full part to develop a "superior race."

Improvement Era, May 1937

Bildunterschriften:
â€¢ Showing one type of work done by German girls in "Arbeit Dienst" (work camps) in Germany.
â€¢ German girls being trained in a camp. all girls who desire to go to college must first give six months’ service in one of these camps.
â€¢ German girls who have given their day’s service in the fields, on their way back to camp.