Life Under Nazi Rule: Control and Persecution (1933-39)
Hitler had clear ideas about women's roles - they should focus on "Kinder, Küche, Kirche" (children, kitchen, church). Laws encouraged marriage and motherhood whilst discouraging women from careers. The Law for the Encouragement of Marriage offered financial incentives for traditional family structures.
Nazi control of youth was total. Schools taught Nazi ideology alongside regular subjects, whilst the Hitler Youth dominated leisure time. Children learned obedience to the Führer and racial theories that prepared them to be loyal Nazi citizens.
Hitler delivered on his promise to tackle unemployment through public works projects and rearmament. However, workers lost their trade union rights and were controlled by the German Labour Front. Living standards improved for some but at the cost of personal freedom.
Warning Sign: Anti-Semitic persecution escalated from boycotts of Jewish businesses in 1933 to the Nuremberg Laws (1935) and Kristallnacht (1938), showing how quickly legal discrimination became violent oppression.
Jews weren't the only targets. Gypsies, homosexuals, and disabled people faced increasing persecution as the Nazis pursued their vision of Aryan racial purity. By 1939, the euthanasia programme began systematically murdering those deemed "unworthy of life."