Nazi's View of Marriage
The National Socialist Party quickly turned heads in July 14th, 1933 through the Law Concerning the Formation of New Parties, by declaring itself the only political party that was "allowed to exist in the Third Reich" (156.HCCR). Soon thereafter, the political perception the Nazis were likely to enforce would transform the whole view of German culture, economy, race, and especially, the way German individuals emotionally and physically interacted with one another. One relationship in the German state that stood out in my mind was the Nazi’s view of marriage, its purpose, its use and its representation in the German state. The Nazi’s perceived marriage as a processing factory, where each partner had certain roles and purposes to fulfill. Through the creation of speeches, art and laws, the relationship that would stand to the occasion in representing the Third Reich was the relation between man and woman...marriage.
Thesis Statement:
Marriage defined the Volksgemeinschaft, or “community of people,” of Germany because it was the basis relationship that connected the small world of the household to the larger German community. Also, marriage made it rightfully possible to produce "pure blood" German children with the genetically correct German parents. Marriage was so vital to the Nazis because it was the true basis of their socio-political perspectives. In effect, see if you agree with my thesis students...In order to define Volksgemeinschaft, the Nazis constructed marriage by associating the relationship with modeled public male and private female roles, and with the assumption of procreating “pure blood” Aryan children. The Nazis used marriage to define their Volksgemeinschaft because it enforced the vertical relationship in marriage into the Nazi based society and it would help increase the capacity and population of the Aryan race.
How the Nazi’s constructed marriage: Part one
Nazis constructed marriage to define their “community of people” by associating the relationship with modeled public male and private female roles. In the Nazis perspective, marriage was no longer a physical or emotional attraction between a man and a woman, yet it became a small system within a larger system that would sustain both the German households and the German society. Marriage soon became defined as a modeled system when Hitler depicted the Nazi‘s preferences in a speech to the National Socialist Women‘s section on September 8th, 1934.
Since the “new woman” ideal was unrealistic for many women, many could feel that they were not strong modern woman. Hitler and the Nazi party targeted that insecurity by boosting the importance of the role of a mother in Germany. Only by following the tradition lifestyle of a woman could they ever be equal with men in their contribution to the Nazi movement. Elsbeth Zander, a Nazi activist and leader of the German Women’s Order, addresses the role of women in 1926, where she explains the important impact of motherhood in Germany. Zander explains, “We women must, through our quiet, honest work, inspire the German male to do noble things once more!.” Which when analyzed critically, this quote truly means that women should be the behind the scenes of the movement, caring for the household and being strong in their soul, not actions. Propaganda supporting Nazi’s defination of womanhood was common, such as the “Healthy Parents- Healthy Children!” poster from 1934 Germany. The visuals of this poster, with an Aryan woman dressed femininely is shown happily with her many children and husband is in direct contrast to the visuals of a “new woman” who stood independently on her own, dressed androgynously. In this way, the Nazi party was not only setting the racial standard for Nazi Germany, but the gender
After World War I, there was a spiritual void left within the people of Germany. The outcome of the war had ripped the German society along the class lines causing great stress and tension among the people. The people of Germany had believed all along that they were winning the war, and therefore the news of surrender came as a great shock to them. To make things worse, the peace treaty established placed the entire fault of the war on Germany and left them responsible for paying for the costs of the war for all who were involved. This sparked a conflict between the middle and working classes in society. Then, the depression followed, creating even more unhappiness among the people. With all of this unhappiness because of the class divisions and the depression, the Nazi...
In his lecture, Existentialism is a Humanism, Jean-Paul Sartre discusses common misconceptions people, specifically Communists and Christians, have about existentialism and extentanitalists (18). He wants to explain why these misconceptions are wrong and defend existentialism for what he believes it is. Sartre argues people are free to create themselves through their decisions and actions. This idea is illustrated in the movie 13 Going on Thirty, where one characters’ decision at her thirteenth birthday party and her actions afterwards make her become awful person by the time she turns thirty. She was free to make these decisions but she was also alone. Often the idea of having complete free will at first sounds refreshing, but when people
In the novel by Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the two main characters, Huck and Jim, are strongly linked. Their relation is portrayed by various sides, some of them good and some others bad. But the essential interest of that relation is the way that uses the author to describe it. Even if he had often been misunderstood, Twain always implied a message behind the themes developed around Huck and Jim.
In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain presents the problem of slavery in America in the 19th Century. Twain poses this problem in the form of a character named Huckleberry Finn, a white boy raised in the antebellum South. Huck starts to question his view regarding slavery when he acquaints himself more intimately with a runaway slave while he himself tries to run away. Huck’s development as a character is affected by society’s influence on his experiences while growing up in the South, running away with Jim, and trying to save Jim. Although Huck decides to free Jim, Huck’s deformed conscience convinces him that he is doing the wrong thing.
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For the majority of human history marriage was always thought to be between one man and one woman. That was, until last year when the Supreme Court passed a law, legalizing gay marriage. Many people still do not support marriage, but people’s changing ideas of what defines a marriage made the legalization of gay marriage happen. This issue can also be applied to the Functional Analysis theory. Those with this perspective may believe marriage should only be between a man and woman, because each brings different skills to the home. A gay marriage and home could be viewed as unstable, because without a man in the home it may be difficult to do extensive heavy lifting and without a woman in the home it may be difficult to do housework like sewing. Functional Analysis may believe that gay marriage threatens the balance in the home which will in turn affect other aspects of life like childcare, cooking, housekeeping, etc. Sociologist who believes in the Conflict Theory perspective may think that gay marriage developed as a result of several people protesting to lawmakers that gay marriage should be legalized. Before gay marriage was legalized, marriage was between only a man and woman simply because there was no other definition of marriage. Men always had more power over women, but gay marriage allows everyone regardless of gender to get
Adolf Hitler, as the new dictator of Germany, had an image of the "perfect society." This image, though, did not include a group of what Hitler declared "undesirables." This group included t...
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Existentialism is a term that was coined specifically by Jean-Paul Sartre in regards to his own life. Sartre had adopted the Atheistic approach to life and its meaning, and while he was not the first or only one to do so, was the first and only one to come up with a way to describe it. Under Existentialism, man lives without higher power or guidance and must rely solely on himself and what he is aiming to do in order to lead a fulfilling life. This can be anything. Critics of Sartre propose that, because such a vast array of options exists within the meaningfulness of life, this philosophy is obsolete and trivial in nature. This is not true, as it is seen in everyday examples – celebrities, namely – that a thirst
“[…] When we say that a man is responsible for himself, […] he is responsible for all men. […] To choose to be this or that is to affirm at the same time the value of what we choose, because we can never choose evil. We always choose the good, and nothing can be good for us without being good for all.” (Sartre, 201) Sartre mentions subjectivity here – the starting point for existentialism – making it apparent that there is no universal standard for good or bad; it is how we each individually view the world. The way each one of us creates value for the universe is essential to existentialism. According to Sartre, you’re free to do and choose whatever you want, but you're making a choice that involves all of humanity. No one can make your decisions for you, therefore you have to take responsibility for them, and for the affect they can have on society. We must live as though the world was watching us. Who’s to tell what’s good or bad? It’s a subjective answer, a choice. What may seem natural is always a choice, and we live in a universe with no fundamental value, meaning everything we do is a choice, and subjectively to us, those choices are ‘good’. When we make a choice, it affects what other people’s ideas of good and bad are, it influences them, when we act as lawgivers. That’s a lot of responsibility to uphold, and according to Sartre we should embrace it, for the sake of our own consciences and to make a better world around
Jean-Paul Sartre was a notable French philosopher and writer of the 20th century whose literary works have strongly influenced the world of academia and spurred intellectual contest in the Modern era. In Sartre’s 1945 publication, “Existentialism and Humanism,” Sartre had argued extensively about the notion of abandonment – the notion that we live freely in this world without purpose, and his stance on atheistic existentialism. His main argument was that existence precedes essence so humans acquire meaning through lived experiences since humans are free to choose and decide for themselves. From this, he concludes that there exists no such thing as ‘a priori’ morality and that “God is a useless and costly hypothesis” (28). In this paper, I will be rebutting Sartre’s moral nihilism argument since it lacks apparent linkage between the notion of freedom of choice and the idea that ‘a priori’ morality does not exist.
Sartre based his philosophy first and foremost on mankind's innate free will, and declared that it is a by-product of the interaction between being and nothing. According to Sartre, individuals are free from the moment of their birth and they continue on throughout life to define their essence. The nature of an individual is what we have done in the past and wha...