German Leadership

Free Love

Adolph Hitler’s Free Love Program – 1933-1945 Germany’s Nazi regime was focused primarily on conquest through its policy of Lebensraum—“living space.” But in order to populate the newly invaded lands with loyal Aryan citizens, Hitler knew his country’s birthrate needed to dramatically increase. To that end, he ordered propaganda and programs to encourage German women to become mothers. Not just married German woman, either. Before Hitler’s rise to power, unwed mothers were socially stigmatized. Under the Third Reich, women (and girls as young as fifteen and sixteen years old) were told it was their duty to give birth to as many children as possible, whether a guy put a ring on it or not. All contraception was verboten. Free love was the order of the day. Mother’s Cross medals and incentives were handed out. Laws were passed levying penalties on childless couples. Joseph Goebbels, the Propaganda Minister, produced magazines, posters, and nudie flicks promoting “healthy eroticism.” The policy worked to a degree, but in the end, began to backfire. As the fighting dragged on and more resources went into war production, fewer doctors and medical supplies and less food were available, leading to increased infant and mother mortality. More Germen women, worn out from factory work and too many children at home, sought illegal abortions. In his haste to increase the German population, Hitler virtually destroyed the German family.