More than ever before, women played key roles in World War II. Whether they were manning the homefront, working in factories, or doing the actual fighting, there were strict rules to be followed if they wanted to make it out alive.
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00:00More than ever before, women played key roles in World War II. Whether they were manning
00:05the home front, working in factories, or doing the actual fighting, there were strict rules
00:09to be followed if they wanted to make it out alive.
00:12While women participated in the Nazi project at every level, they had one ability that
00:17even the most rabid male Nazi lacked — the power to give birth to the next generation
00:21of Aryan children. Though, quote, racially pure men and women were both encouraged to
00:26reproduce, mothers were especially valued in Nazi thoughts and policy, as it was through
00:30them the master race would grow and become more powerful.
00:33And once they were born, women were tasked with indoctrinating their children with Nazi
00:37ideals from the cradle. In fact, the Third Reich took the job so seriously that they
00:42gave medals for producing baby Nazis. The Gold Mother's Cross rewarded women who had
00:46at least four children, with the highest grade going to those who produced eight or more
00:50children for the Reich.
00:51All this assumed, of course, that both parents were racially and ideologically acceptable.
00:56By the time the last Mother's Cross was awarded in 1944, over 4.7 million of these medals
01:01had been awarded.
01:03Soldiers' morale was of the utmost importance. The United States established a system of
01:07entertainment to brighten troops' deployments, whether they were stationed at home or overseas.
01:12Big names sang, danced, told jokes, and brought much-needed levity and warmth through the
01:16famous USO shows. Among the most famous entertainers to make the tour was Marlene Dietrich.
01:21The elegant German actress and chanteuse had left Germany to pursue a career in Hollywood
01:26and refused to return home for the obvious reason.
01:28Nazi agents asked Dietrich to come home to Germany to make propaganda films for the Third
01:34Reich. But she's a staunch opponent of the Nazis.
01:38Dietrich performed hundreds of times for Allied troops, often appearing at bases close to
01:42the front. She also had a side hustle doing some spy work for the OSS — that's the precursor
01:47for the CIA.
01:48Kate rewarded Dietrich for her physical and moral courage when she had the joy of announcing
01:52the D-Day invasion to her audience during a performance in Italy.
01:55Espionage was a serious concern. You know how we just said that Marlene Dietrich did
01:59a little spy work? She was also investigated by the FBI to make sure she wasn't spying
02:04for the Germans. The idea is that anyone could be looking to get their hands on some intel.
02:09Domestic propaganda campaigns throughout the Allied countries emphasized the danger of
02:13discussing Army movements, war work, or anything that could conceivably be of military use
02:17to Axis operatives. The popular slogan stateside was,
02:21Loose lips might sink ships. And in the U.K., the catchphrase was,
02:24Careless talk costs lives.
02:26While these campaigns weren't exclusively aimed at women, the outsized presence of women
02:31on the homefront meant that they were the main recipients of the message. No matter
02:34who you were, the best thing to say about your war work was nothing at all.
02:39Rosie the Riveter became an American icon for good reason. With the enlistment of much
02:43of the male workforce, women were working outside the home in greater numbers than ever
02:47before. Factories producing materials, weapons, vehicles, and just about everything were increasingly
02:52staffed by women, as were farms growing the food needed to feed Americans both at home
02:56and fighting abroad. Women doing war work faced challenges, including sexism from men
03:01who stayed behind. Still, the experiment of women's wider participation in the economy
03:06was a raging success.
03:07Not only did American industrial production help bury the Axis powers under a level of
03:11materials and munitions the enemy simply couldn't match, but the money women made — and often
03:16saved — during the war helped boost post-war prosperity. A massive cultural shift had begun,
03:22and more and more women would work outside their homes in future generations.
03:26For the first time in American history, all four branches of the military create special
03:32units for women.
03:34Over 640,000 British and 350,000 American women served in uniform. The vast majority
03:39of women served in support roles. However, the Soviet Union went one step further. Given
03:44both the desperation of its fight against the Nazi invasion and the socialist ideal
03:48of gender equality, Soviet armed forces became the first to enlist women as fighters. Soviet
03:53women flew combat missions, crewed tanks, and served with particular effectiveness and
03:58distinction as snipers.
04:00One Soviet sniper, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, notched 309 confirmed kills before injury forced her
04:05to retire from the front. We covered her in depth in another video. We're going to link
04:09it up there so you can check it out.
04:11But anyway, one of the things she did was do a goodwill tour of sorts in the U.S. And
04:16by goodwill, we mean trying to shame the Americans into joining the European theater. In Chicago,
04:21she addressed a rapt crowd, saying,
04:23"'Gentlemen, I am 25 years old and I have killed 309 fascist occupiers by now. Do you
04:28think, gentlemen, that you have been hiding behind my back for too long?'
04:32Wartime meant shortages in rationing, including fabrics, which were needed by the armed forces
04:36for uniforms and supplies like parachutes. The British utility dress, available with
04:41ration coupons, was so flatteringly simple that even non-rationed clothing began to imitate
04:46its style and silhouette. Sequins weren't on the ration list, so a little creativity
04:50with a needle could add sparkle to an otherwise drab outfit.
04:54And then there were nylons. Until shortly before World War II, women's stockings were
04:58usually made of silk. More affordable nylon options came onto the American market in 1939
05:04and were an instant hit, just in time for the war to eat up the fabric supply.
05:08-"Look at this look on that dang nylon!"
05:11To replicate the look of nylon stockings, women painted their legs, often with gravy
05:15browning, sometimes including a dark pencil seam down the back of the leg to complete
05:19the illusion.
05:21One place you probably never expected to find women working was a Nazi death camp. But shockingly,
05:26they did. And sadly, they were just as brutal as the men.
05:29Among the most notorious of Hitler's female concentration camp officers was Irma Greisa,
05:34whose youth and physical attractiveness made the allegations against her more shocking.
05:38A shy farm girl, Greisa became a committed Nazi believer as a teenager, and in 1942,
05:44at the age of 18, she became a prison guard at Auschwitz. In addition to the psychological
05:49torture she inflicted, she personally beat, whipped, and set dogs upon prisoners under
05:53her control. Greisa was also responsible for selecting people to be sent to their deaths
05:57in the gas chambers.
05:59Captured in the spring of 1945, Greisa was convicted by a British tribunal and executed
06:04by hanging at the age of 23.
06:06The royal families of countries in Hitler's way had two choices — stay and risk death,
06:11or flee. But fleeing meant remaining active in the fight. When Hitler invaded neutral
06:15Luxembourg, Grand Duchess Charlotte and her family fled. She spent the war primarily in
06:19Canada and the United Kingdom, meeting U.S. President Roosevelt several times and broadcasting
06:24messages to her people in occupied Luxembourg. Both her husband and son fought under the
06:28British flag, and in 1945, Charlotte returned to Luxembourg to reign for another 19 years.
06:34Queen Wilhelmina had ruled the Netherlands since 1890. She managed to steer the Netherlands'
06:39neutral course through World War I, but was unable to keep the Nazis from overrunning
06:43her country in 1940. From England, Wilhelmina broadcast regularly to her people to keep
06:48their spirits up and was enthusiastically welcomed home upon the country's liberation.
06:54Citizens of occupied countries could and did sabotage, undermine, and frustrate the activities
06:58of their enemies. Resistance forces sprang up throughout occupied Europe, but were especially
07:03strong in France and Yugoslavia, and included many women. French women smuggled weapons,
07:09sabotaged German communications, and helped those in danger escape the country. Allied
07:12airmen shot down over France were sometimes rescued and hidden by local women, many of
07:16whom remain anonymous to this day, because it was safer to use false names.
07:21Yugoslavian women were, if anything, even more ferociously opposed to German occupation,
07:26and some of them participated in active combat with local partisans. They also organized
07:30ways to keep local populations fed during the war, forming units to do farm work and
07:34prevent enemies from stealing the crops to feed their troops. Yugoslav women were both
07:38rewarded and punished for their resistance. Over 100,000 received decorations of merit
07:43for their actions, but over 600,000 were killed, representing over a third of Yugoslav deaths
07:48during the war.
07:50British food rationing began in January 1940. The first commodities to be rationed were
07:54butter, sugar, bacon, and ham. But by 1942, nearly everything was on the list, except
07:59for fresh vegetables, fruit, and fish. Homemakers had to think creatively and practice smart
08:04home economics to keep their families fed during the conflict. Each person had an allotment
08:08of ration points, which varied according to individual circumstance. For example, expectant
08:13or nursing mothers or those with physically demanding jobs got more. Gardening, at home
08:18or on shared public land, could supplement a family's food stores, as could purchases
08:22on the black market. Of course, you needed the right connections and the cash to pay
08:26the inflated prices these off-the-record goods could command.
08:30When the war ended, women across the globe found themselves living in a world that was
08:33forever changed. While women everywhere faced cultural changes, perhaps the biggest adaptations
08:38were required of Japanese women. The conservative Japanese society that brought the empire into
08:43World War II had lagged behind other countries in terms of enlisting women for war work.
08:47But by the war's end, over four million Japanese women were employed in key industries. Surrender
08:52left Japan badly damaged from bombing, chronically short food, and occupied by the United States,
08:58whose way of life could not have been more different. On paper, this led to Japanese
09:02women gaining rights.
09:03"...enfranchising Japanese women was a simple yet important way to democratize."
09:08Some Japanese women became involved with men in the occupying forces and married them,
09:13becoming war brides and returning with their husbands to the United States. Though these
09:17women initially faced racialized barriers to immigration, by 1959, Japanese wives of
09:22American servicemen had increased the Asian-descended population of the United States by 12 percent.