Quote:
Originally Posted by edwest2
"absurd under-utilisation"? Why do you draw that conclusion? I have seen many, many female flak helper photos and then there were the women who worked in factories and for various other firms involved in war work, plus in communications and clerical work.
Best,
Ed
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Hello Ed:
Allow me to make three points in response:
Firstly, I was referring to the situation in the Reich as a whole. It is possible for the statements that (i) women were employed in specific roles (flak helpers, comm's and clerical work, etc) and (ii) overall, the female population was not effectively used for the war effort to
both be true. Showing that a limited number of women were employed in specific roles does not necessarily prove that women were utilised effectively across the economy
Secondly, let's look at how well the Reich did use its female population. Obviously a huge topic and I certainly don't pretend to be an expert. But Albert Speer, Minister for Armament and War Production, does mention this issue in his monumental 'Inside the Third Reich'. He refers to being lobbied by industrialists, who pointed out the much higher utilisation of women in munitions production in WW1 than in WW2. Speer states that his plan to approach Hitler in April 1942 to rectify this situation was undermined by Fritz Sauckel (Reich Plenipotentiary for Labour), so the domestic female population remained drastically underutilised. Speer then compares the drastic fall in household domestic servants in Britain with the lack of a similar decline in wartime Germany. Speer reports that a similar effort by him to mobilise German women for war production in January 1944 failed. Granted Speer is but one source, but he was a well-informed one.
Similarly, Norman Stone in 'Hitler' states "Contrary to popular notions, the economy was not militarized at all. Women, for instance, were discouraged from taking employment, and to the very end there were fewer working women in Germany than in 1918".
Thirdly, I reckon that Larry has nailed the situation in his #9. I would like to know whether the female controller guiding III/JG26 on 24 April 1944 was simply sitting next to a qualified male controller and repeating his directions, or was in fact issuing directions in her own right. As Larry says, a topic for additional research...and isn't that (unfortunately) where we end up all too often!
Cheers
Don W