The Image of the Ideal German Mother in Nazi Era Posters

Abstract This paper examines the role of women in Nazi Germany and ways the policy and propaganda implemented and enacted both plans an policies to transform women into the mothers of the nation. The paper will focus on the ways propaganda posters were used in order to engage public opinion, using the power of visual arts into manipulating public opinion that the body of a woman should be devoted to the Reich, (re-)producing the pure-blooded German and support the creation of a new empire. The posters supported and acted as a direct reminder of the policies set by Nazi regime, and their ideology on family planning, racial purity and gender roles. The propaganda machine that produced them borrowed symbols from religious works of the Renaissance connecting the “ideal mother” to images of Holy Mary, in a twisted connection between religion and social engineering. The presentation will discuss about the ways Nazi Germany elaborated the role of women, the (ab)use of their body and the ideal depiction of it according to the regime, the distortion of iconic renaissance paintings along with the ways that religion and public policy have been weaved in order to manipulate and re-educate an entire nation will be parts of the presentation in order to highlight this interesting part of history.