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CHAPTER 11 In the War Of‹ce: 1917–1919 The ‹rst two years of the war, the German people were patient and docile. They believed, like the other belligerents, in the propaganda organized for their bene‹t. Even the Socialists, in spite of their “International ” and the fraternity of the workers of the world, supported the government and, with the exception of the Independents,1 voted for the war credits. The founder of the party and its leader until his death in 1913, August Bebel, had always stated that they would ‹ght if Germany were attacked. Now the Socialists, like practically all Germans, believed this was actually the case. They had always felt as Germans, but under the in›uence of party slogans, they were simply unaware of it. By the end of 1916, the people grew restive, the troops were decimated , and the replacements far from ‹t. The “Ludendorff program”2 was issued with an order to form a Women’s Auxiliary Corps, and the conscription of women was given serious consideration. I was appointed head of the women’s department of the War Of‹ce for my home province, the area raising the Garde Corps and the Third Army Corps, and for all occupied districts behind the front where they were stationed. I was most reluctant to accept this post. There was not a grain of nationalistic enthusiasm in me. So far, my war work had been con‹ned to helping people who were in dif‹culties, but this new job meant actual service in the war machine. After much discussion, I surrendered to pressure, to the argument that everyone who refused to serve weakened the ranks of our soldiers and increased the danger of defeat, and because I would probably soon be conscripted anyway, but also because the war seemed easier to bear if I drowned myself in work, if I shared the common lot, if I became a part of the masses. 112 My department organized the work and working conditions of women in my province and, insofar as possible, living conditions as well—everything, in fact, from waking to sleeping. I had to direct the labor exchanges in giving preference to war industries and to arrange for the supervision of children in industrial and rural districts so that the mothers could be induced to go to work. In munitions factories, where working conditions were especially unsuitable for women, we persuaded the authorities to make it compulsory for management to appoint a personnel of welfare workers. I began without any help except occasionally that of a typist from another section, but as the work expanded, my department did too, as is usual in government of‹ces. Toward the end, I had required a large staff of about seventy social workers and secretaries. If this had not been wartime, the unlimited power given to women would have ful‹lled our highest aspirations. Under these conditions, the scope for our humanizing efforts was insigni‹cant. What we were doing seemed quite unintelligible to the of‹cers who were our chiefs. For more than two years, my immediate superior sent for me only whenever his wife or one of his cousins needed a servant. He was convinced that I had some mysterious method of producing these rare human beings and that it was my job to do so. Serious responsibilities began when we had to send women into the occupied districts and communication lines behind the ‹ghting front to replace men in work ranging from kitchen service to administration. It was something of a desperate undertaking; time and again, we asked ourselves whether we should lend a hand in this business. In earlier ages, an army was frankly accompanied by prostitutes. With our modern standards of a womanhood more conscious of its dignity and value, we could not overlook the danger of sending respectable girls of varied backgrounds to supplement the army. They had been deprived for years of any pleasure, any social stimulus and friendly association with men. The soldiers, too, had been cut off from all this. Some of the women we dispatched were idealistic and patriotic, but they worked under adverse conditions. I had to provide the auxiliaries for vast regions in Poland, Russian, and the Ukraine, where diseases such as typhoid and spotted fever were endemic. After choosing and engaging the women, we arranged for medical examination and vaccination against smallpox and In the War Office 113 [3.14.132.214] Project MUSE (2024-04...

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