Berg Publishers Ltd Mothers Of The Nation

What role did right-wing women play in the Nazi rise to power? Mothers of the Nation analyzes the work of these women in the Weimar Republic. The author shows that they refused to stand up primarily for women's interests and instead invoked the Volksgemeinschaft (community of the people), a vision of harmony and cooperation. The emphasis on the Volksgemeinschaft made it difficult for female conservatives to fight for specific women's rights. Yet it also allowed them to paste over the conflicts between interest groups that tore apart Germany's bourgeois parties. The ways in which these women sought to contain the fragmentation that ultimately rendered their parties defenseless against the Nazis sheds new light on Weimar politics. Bringing the controversial story of right-wing women to life, this book offers a compelling account of gender and politics during a crucial period in German history.