Whose Mothers? Generational Difference, War, and the Nazi Cult of Motherhood

Arguing that we must consider generational difference in our treatment of motherhood, this article analyzes two areas of propaganda and policy regarding women in wartime Nazi Germany: women's contribution to the war economy and their mourning of men who fell at war. The regime believed younger women (mothers included) to be more fit than older women for paid labor, while it considered older women's housework essential to their civilian husbands' performance at work. Propaganda emphasizing the sacrifices of the bereaved war mother over the war widow (and mother of young children) helped the regime claim to honor motherhood, even as its labor policies intensified the work of mothering. The differentiation of mothers according to age more generally reflects welfare states' desire to appeal to popular pro-mother sentiment while limiting the costs of subsidizing motherhood.