"Call-up" Prospects?

[Kolya]

Firstly, apologies for any simplification or idiotic questions I ask - I'm really out of my depth in this area of history

I'd like to know what sort of prospects a 18-20 year old woman would have had when call-up came (if such a thing existed for women). To be more specific, what would a woman of that age most likely be "doing" in terms of service around 1940-1942.

Was there a system like RAD, or was that not as male-oriented as I'd thought? What was the process (if any) of that sort, and what was the liklihood of someone being drafted for service?

Again, sorry for the feeble grabbing-at-questions

[BDMhistorian]

Hi Kolya,

I don't think this is a stupid question at all, and I'm sure you're going to get a lot of good information in this thread. Let me say up front that my main area of study is the BDM (League of German Girls), so I don't know a whole lot about the female Labor Service, but I'm sure what I get wrong will be corrected by other members on this board.

Like young men, young women in the Third Reich were expected to partake in the Nazi organizations. For young women, this started at age 10 when they had to join the Jungmaedel, the little girls' organization of the League of German Girls. Membership to the Jungmaedel and BDM became mandatory for any girl age 10 and older in 1936. After four years in the Jungmaedel, she was required to go on to the League of German Girls where she stayed until age 18.

The BDM, in many ways, started setting girls up for working in the service for their country such as requiring them to participate in the HJ Landdienst (Hitler Youth Land Service), the Landjahr (Country Service), or the Hauswirtschaftliches Jahr (Domestic Service Year). Participation in those was more or less voluntary until 1938 when the "Pflichtjahr" (mandatory service year) was introduced for girls. The Pflichtjahr wasn't necessarily a full year - it could be several months to a year - and girls were either sent to the country, where they would help on the farm, or the city where they would be domestic help to a family.

In 1939 the BDM expanded and introduced the "BDM Werk Glaube und Schoenheit" (the BDM Belief and Beauty Society) for girls ages 18 to 21. This was supposed to serve as a tie-in between membership in the BDM and membership in the Frauenschaft (the Nazi partys women's organization).

There was also the RADwJ, or Reichsarbeitsdienst fuer die Weibliche Jugend (Labor Service of the Female Youth), which was open to girls between 18 and 25 years of age. At first the RADwJ was voluntary except for girls who wanted to attend university (the latter were required to fulfill their service with the RADwJ), but starting officially in 1936, all unmarried young women between 18 and 25 could be drafted for service. This started to be widely enforced after the beginning of the war in 1939.

Women could also be "Dienstverpflichtet" ("required to do service"), which amounted approxmiately to being drafted, although not necessarily in the military. Women could be drafted to work in factories working for the war effort (munitions and weapons factories, for example), Wehrmachthelferinnen (military auxiliaries), and even SS concentration camp guards.

In 1944 an order went out to have women replace as many Luftwaffe soldiers as possible by working as search light operators, Flak helpers, etc. It was suggested to draft 100 000 girls for this purpose, but by the end of 1944, only 50 000 girls from the RADwJ had been drafted for this.

I found a snippet about a RADwJ girl remembering being "drafted" to be a flak helper that you might find interesting:

Our entire camp was sent to Nuremberg where we had to go through a real basic training and were then sent to the flak positions. That was entirely different and new back then. We practically replaced the soldiers who were there before us, and had to take over everything. That was very hard, of course, and very difficult to get used to. Myself, I was never good with anything technical. None of this was in my nature, starting with standing guard, day and night.

And it happened, for example, that I'd be on guard, and a soldier would come through our position and tap on my shoulder and ask, "Kamerad, can you tell me what time it is?" After I'd answer, he would be very surprised and say, "I'll be damned - a girl!" He'd taken me for a soldier and was pretty surprised, even shocked, because this really said: We're at a point now where girls have to be drafted! After all, this was very dangerous work and we were all very young and were scared.

Hannelore Schnitzlein, 16 at the time
from "Deutsche Frauen und Maedchen", Droste Verlag, 1984

[Kolya]

Thank you very much for such a detailed explanation

So the year's-service thing in the BDM was one of the three -jahr projects? And would this be at a certain age (like the RAD), or would you just be required to do one 'year' at some point in your time with the organisation?

[BDMhistorian]

So the year's-service thing in the BDM was one of the three -jahr projects? And would this be at a certain age (like the RAD), or would you just be required to do one 'year' at some point in your time with the organisation?

The BDM originally particilated in the HJ Landdienst, the Landjahr, and the Hauswirtschaftliches Jahr, prior to 1938. The Landjahr was in reality only 9 months and voluntary except if a girl wanted to go study at university, in which case she was required to participate. Volunteers for the Landjahr had to be between 14 and 21.

The Pflichtjahr (mandatory service year) was introduced in 1938, and was required for "unmarried young women who had graduated school". I would say the average age of girls who started their Pflichtjahr would've been between 14 and 16. (Germany's school system should warrant a small side note here - girls who graduated Volksschule graduated at age 14, girls who went to Realschule graduated at 16. There was also a "Hoehere Maedchenschule", and I believe you graduated at 17, but I'm not sure.)

Later on, the BDM Osteinsatz (BDM Eastern Action) was also introduced, which was only really 6 months but counted as a whole service year. So girls who were required to fulfill their service year had that option as well.