by Werner
Reher
Berlin, 1938
„In the welfare services, just as in every other branch of national
activity, our most important and at the same time most difficult task, is to
re-educate the People in their attitude towards life. They must be brought to
realize the truth that human beings have been sent into this world not to
suffer but to struggle. God has placed them here to flourish and bear fruit,
just as the tree does. Through pain and adversity, they must grow in strength.
The fir tree that grows on the mountain has to struggle hard for its life. It
must hold out against wind and storm. And the effect of the wind and storm is
that the trunk of the tree gradually thickens layer by layer on the side that
is assailed, until the little mountain fir can stand erect against the
elements. We see the same thing happening in the history of nations. Periods of
adversity which befall the nations and which the nations must overcome help to
develop their strength. But everything that endures through periods of
adversity represents the result of a selection from among the People, a result
of the same process of selection that we see everywhere in life. Everything
that lives has to go through a period of trial and will be cast aside if it is
weak.“
- Hilgenfeldt
In all
civilized countries there are organizations for social assistance which owe
their origin and maintenance to private initiative. Some of these operate under
the aegis of religious denominations and others are carried on by lay
associations which have been established to meet some definite social need. The
idea which inspires all these springs from the Christian principle of love for
the neighbour, the idea of doing good to others. Then there are social welfare
activities which are subsidized and directed by the State and these also are
inspired by the Christian principle. The desire and purpose of all such
undertakings is to foster a social policy whereby the economic distress of the
individual will be made at least bearable. Thus the underlying presumption is
that economic distress is a permanent condition in which a certain class of the
community must live. Should temporary distress arise temporary measures are
generally adopted to meet it. But the uniform postulate on which social welfare
activities are generally based is the belief that the poor will be always with
us. The preaching and practice of this principle weakens the moral resistance
of those who find themselves in need of assistance.
In many countries the various
forms which charitable assistance takes are determined by the definite ends
that have to be served. Thus in England and in France there are thousands of
institutions and associations which depend on voluntary support exclusively and
are entirely independent of one another in their operations. Their purpose is
generally the humanitarian one of helping the needy members of the community.
The immense resources of these institutions and the consequent bountiful hand
with which kindness to the poor is distributed place before the less
conscientious members of the community a temptation to avail themselves of the
possibility of getting double and treble the subsidies that they would get if
there were a uniform control over the whole system. In every large city today
there are hundreds of thousands who are in need of relief. These represent not
only the unemployed but also those other members of the population who find
themselves in economically adverse circumstances for one reason or another. But
unemployment or only partial employment is always the chief cause of social
distress among the masses. The only way therefore of definitely dealing with
this situation is to find a place in the national economic system for those who
are still capable of working. The number of unemployed has increased to such
large proportions in our time that even the best social policy that could be
devised would prove inadequate to the situation.
An American Commission which
investigated the causes of the present world-wide distress came to the
conclusion that the substitution of manual work by the machine is the ground because
that has led to this serious disturbance in the whole economic system. Therefore,
what is needed is to hasten a process of social transformation to meet the
changed conditions or else slow down the tempo of mechanical inventions. The
conditions prevalent in the labour market show how the social-economic
situation is causally connected with the industrial situation and thus gives
rise to a problem which concerns all civilized countries and must be solved by
them in one way or another.
The post-War period has brought
social distress into the foreground. It has become so widespread and so
deep-rooted that any merely social policy of the traditional type will not
prove adequate to solve the problem. When we review the economic developments
that have taken place in the nineteenth century alone we see that the social
question has steadily become more and more serious and more difficult of
solution and that these difficulties have become world-wide. In our time the
various religious denominations have made huge efforts to deal with the problem
of social distress but they have been unable to bring about a satisfactory
solution. The progress which has been made in mechanical methods of production
has been accompanied by a steady and inexorable increase in social distress, to
such an extent that the conviction now prevailing among men who have studied
the matter carefully is that private enterprise alone can no longer hope to
deal effectively with the situation. Present conditions point to the necessity
of interference on the part of the State and the adoption of a systematic State
policy in social matters.
Bismarck’s attitude towards the
social problem is instructive and shows clearly the difference between his time
and ours as regards the object of social legislation. When the various kinds of
Government insurances were first introduced in Germany - Health Insurance, Old
Age Insurance etc. - it was hoped that this social legislation, which
guaranteed the working classes against distress arising from illness, accident
or old age, would have the effect of bringing those classes into closer
spiritual touch and sympathy with the State. But the standing antagonism on the
part of the masses towards the State was not softened in the least. Rather the
contrary happened. This antagonism showed itself stronger than ever. The
tendency towards radical ideas, the shift towards the Left, became more
pronounced, until it finally developed into a discontent which was directed
against the State as its immediate object. Thus the ruling authorities who had
hoped that their social legislation would bring the masses into organic unity
with the State proved to be mistaken.
Germany is now endeavouring to
establish a new social concept of the State and its functions. This idea is
based on the traditional union between the people and their native land and on
the hope that, by uniting the people in one folk community where class
distinctions play no part, it may be possible to find a solution for the social
problem in a synthesis between people and State. Unless this attempt first wins
the acceptance and sanction of the people it will be doomed to failure. The
State must secure the willing cooperation of the people.
This free collaboration on the
part of the people, which is now an established fact and force in Germany, is a
proof that the people have been approached and won in the right way. And this
achievement must be placed to the credit of the National Socialist People’s
Welfare Organization (N.S.V. = Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt). This
organization has now more than seven million members. These seven millions are
the sponsors of that work which shows itself most strikingly in the German
People’s Winter Help and in the „Mother and Child“ institution. In this social
service there are nearly 1.500.000 voluntary workers. These workers are engaged
in teaching the public in a practical way to understand that the need of the
individual is an affair that concerns the community as a whole. Whatever help
is given to the individual must not be given as an alms. It is the duty of the
community to render assistance in cases of need, not as a work of
supererogation but as a work that is necessary to maintain the existence of the
community itself. Such is the principle which inspires all the activities of
the N.S.V. and that principle is constantly kept before the public mind.
In the Marxist and liberalistic
systems the individual and his needs formed the point of central interest. That
is not so with the National Socialist welfare system. Here the community of the
people is the primary and essential object of care. The wellbeing of the
community is a necessary precondition for the wellbeing of the individual.
Hitler once declared: „We do not say to the rich man: ‘Give to the poor’, but
we say: ‘People of Germany help yourselves’.“
The N.S.V. is of an entirely
different character from the denominational forms of welfare service, and that
by reason of the purpose which it has set itself to fulfil. It is this purpose
that determines the specific character of the N.S.V. Generally speaking, the
aim of the denominational welfare services has been to relieve distress and
make life bearable for the poor and needy. But the N.S.V. does not envisage
this distress as a permanent condition under which the poor and needy have to
live. It does not set out to make distress bearable for the individual, but it
sets out rather to help the individual to overcome distress, to place him once
again on a sound earning basis, to place the family also on a sound basis, and
thus make the individual and the family organic members of the folk community.
In carrying out this purpose the N.S.V. has to consider the health of the
individual and the sanitary environment in which the family lives as
preliminary conditions which are necessary for useful membership in the folk
community. It aims at helping those who can afterwards help themselves. Therefore,
its work is principally confined to those who are congenitally sound in health
and who are potentially useful members of the community. But this does not mean
that the hereditarily diseased and permanently infirm are not cared for. Apart
from the official subsidies of the State for the care and upkeep of such
people, there are the denominational institutions and associations for the care
and assistance of the sick and infirm. The N.S.V. therefore leaves this branch
of social assistance to the State as such and to the churches. But in this
connection we must bear in mind the fact that the organizations for public
assistance operating under the patronage and control of the churches are not
entirely or even mainly dependent on the voluntary contributions of the
faithful. They receive large and regular subsidies from the State and the
municipalities in consideration of the work which they do in caring for the
sick and infirm. With the National Socialist Welfare Organization, however, the
main object is not to mitigate distress and make it bearable but rather to
remove the causes of the distress. These causes are at once material and moral;
for the continuance of unemployment and illness, and the feeling that nobody
cares, creates a condition of moral despondency and slackness. The N.S.V.
therefore gives not only material support but also moral encouragement and
education. Social distress is a phenomenon that affects the community as a
whole and therefore the community ought to deal with it for the sake of the
common weal. That is the moral principle which the National Socialist Welfare
Organization endeavours to instil into the minds of the general public and also
into the minds of those who are the temporary victims of economic distress.
On the part of those who are in
need of help there is an honest wish to be considered on a level with other
people and to have their present condition looked upon as due to the accident
of circumstances over which they themselves have no effective control. Therefore,
they must not be classified as a proletariat and they must be made to feel that
when we talk about the community we are not using empty phrases. Accordingly
those who give their donations to help on the work do not give them in a
patronizing way as if giving alms but rather out of a spirit of comradeship
with the needy; for the well-to-do belong to the same community and they must
realize that the basis on which the community exists is the moral principle of „Each
for all and all for each“.
Within the first four-and-a half
years of its existence the resources of the N.S.V. have increased steadily in
accordance with the increasing commercial prosperity and the decrease in
unemployment. The truth that not one of us is self-sufficient but that we are
all dependent on one another has come to be recognized in its practical
implications by all those who desire to sec social justice promoted and
established. Thus it may be said that the nation has become as one great family
whose maintenance can be assured only in so far as the single members of that
family are physically sound, morally steadfast, ready to cooperate with the
other members and willing to sacrifice individual interests to whatever extent
that may be necessary in order to attain and uphold a uniform standard of
wellbeing and efficiency in the whole community.
In the past it was considered
out of the question to think of altering the social structure in such a way
that large sections of the population would no longer have to live in needy and
straightened circumstances. The poor were looked upon as forming a permanent
stratum of the social structure. And the fact that this stratum has existed
through so many centuries illustrates how the principle has worked out in
practical life. Little attempt was made to eliminate poverty as such and the
conditions under which the poor had to live have been only relatively improved.
During the War and the post-War period poverty and distress became so
widespread in Germany that the overwhelming majority of the population found
itself in the ranks of the poor and needy. Distress had developed to such
enormous dimensions that those charitable activities which had been inspired
merely by the love of the neighbour could no longer even mitigate the general
suffering, to say nothing of being able to eliminate it. Under the pressure of
these hard conditions the revolutionary spirit developed and the antagonism of
the masses towards what were supposed to be the upper classes became more and
more marked.
When the present German
Government took office, in 1933, the number of unemployed exceeded six million.
This Government put forward the principle that it was a mistake to look upon
the conditions of distress then existing as if they were an unalterable feature
in the life of the nation. This principle was soon put into operation.
The National Socialist People’s
Welfare Organization was entrusted with the task of uniting the whole
population, the well-to-do and the destitute alike, in one great public work
for the sake of the common weal. Within a short while it proved possible to
banish from the whole nation of nearly seventy million people that moral
lethargy which had existed for several years past. A spirit of optimism was
awakened and a practical faith in life and human destinies was restored The
millions of unemployed and their families were given practical assurance that
those in better economic circumstances felt it a moral duty to contribute their
utmost in money and goods and services for the purpose of overcoming national
distress. The people responded as a unit, thereby overthrowing all former
prejudices and restoring the victims of economic circumstances once more as
useful members of the national community.
Early in 1933 the National
Socialist People’s Welfare Organization - the N.S.V. - comprised barely a few
hundred workers. On May 3, 1933, Adolf Hitler issued a decree establishing the
N.S.V. as the official Party organization for all questions appertaining to
social welfare and relief. The number of voluntary members increased month by
month and year by year. In April 1937 the membership had reached 6.886.000.
The preliminary work of the
Winter Help for the first year of its establishment commenced on September 13,
1933, throughout the towns and cities of the Reich. This work was carried out
under the aegis of the N.S.V. Success was possible however only because
hundreds of thousands of men and women readily offered their services
voluntarily. That gesture assured the success of the whole undertaking. Four
weeks later the organization was in full working order, with a complement of
1.500.000 volunteer helpers. This body of helpers continued their services in
the following years although their various occupations allowed them to give
only the spare evening hours to the N.S.V. The fact that no essential
alterations had to be subsequently made in the organization or its working
plans proves how accurately it had gauged the popular feeling from the
beginning. One of the greatest proofs for the practical character of the
experiment may be found in the fact that it succeeded even though the 1.500.000
workers were quite untrained and inexperienced in such work. This spirit of
solidarity showed what real socialism can be in practice. The example thus
given of how keenly the great majority felt their obligations of service for
their fellow-countrymen and women awakened confidence among the ranks of the
unemployed that the causes of their distress would subsequently be overcome.
The maxim which inspired and directed the Winter Help was: No one shall go
hungry or suffer cold this winter. And yet that maxim was launched at a time
when 17.000.000 had to be helped. Hence the principal occupation of the Winter
Help during its first year was the distribution of food, clothing and domestic
fuel. At the end of October, the first deliveries of free goods were made.
In organizing the Winter Help
the respective needs of the various districts were first of all taken into
account. There were districts which coul3 provide for themselves by organizing
an interchange of goods and services within the district itself. That was
accordingly done. There were other districts that had to be assisted from
outside on a basis of mutual interchange. These were organized under what was
known as sponsorships, one district agreeing to send its surplus products to
another which was in need of those products. Then there were districts that had
to be treated as distressed areas pure and simple.
To illustrate this plan of
operation we may take the distribution of potatoes as an example.
Potato-growing districts helped themselves in the consumption of potatoes. The
sponsor districts, that is to say the districts with surplus products of
potatoes, sent their potatoes to those provinces that do not grow sufficient
for their own consumption. Distressed areas, as far as concerns the potato
consumption, are principally the industrial districts, where the largest number
of unemployed are to be found. To these areas potatoes were sent from all those
districts which have surplus supplies. In planning the system of distribution
to those districts which have no potatoes themselves account was taken of the
fact that the industrial areas of Western Germany, Hamburg and ether cities,
generally speaking, prefer the variety of potato and they receive that quality
accordingly. The blue and white varieties were sent to the districts that
prefer them. Of course, this principle of selection involved a great deal of
detailed work, but this was all the more appreciated by the provinces concerned
inasmuch as they felt that their particular tastes had been catered for. The
fact that 15.043.634 cwts of potatoes were distributed affords an illustration
of the enormous amount of work which this branch of assistance alone entailed.
Not only were local tastes and needs catered for in the matter of potatoes but
in certain districts, where less potatoes are eaten, the difference was made up
by supplying various kinds of farinaceous foods.
The distribution of coal affords
another example of this selective work. As the transport of coal is costly,
particular care has been taken to have the distribution rationalized as far as
transport is concerned. Besides wood and peat, during the winter of 1933/34 the
Winter Help distributed 52.903.070 cwts of coal. The distribution of these huge
amounts was rendered possible only by systematically organizing the
collaboration of the coal trade. Coal coupons which could be exchanged for a
hundredweight of coal or lignite briquettes were issued for household use. The
total number of such coupons issued during the Winter of 1933/34 was 8.800.000.
Those who receive such coupons have a free choice of coal merchants but pay a
booking fee of three halfpence on each coupon. As soon as the coal merchant has
sufficient coupons on hand he delivers them to the local coal-distributing
centre of the N.S.V. where he is given a payment voucher in return. He then
passes on this voucher as payment to his own wholesaler. The latter sends it to
the Coal Syndicate and the Syndicate receives payment in cash from the N.S.V.
The cash payments include the cost of transport, which is of course different
for different districts. The coal distributed by the Winter Help in 1933/34
amounted to 16 % of the whole domestic consumption of coal in Germany. The
average winter issue for each person thus helped came to eight coupons, which
represents a ration of 8 cwts. This varied according to individual needs.
The distribution of potatoes and
coal are the principle features of the Winter Help subsidies, then come
clothing and foodstuffs of all descriptions, but particularly the issue of warm
clothing and domestic linen, donated by all classes of the community. The
farmer gives from his farm produce, the city people contribute wearing apparel,
the miner gives coal and the woodman supplies wood. In classifying all these it
is found that they fall into 60 different categories, from cod-liver oil for
children to all kinds of comestibles such as smoked foodstuffs, fresh meats,
wines, honey, sausages, greengroceries and tobacco. Another example of the
varied kinds of goods contributed is shown in what is called the pound-weight
contributions. Every month the German housewife buys a pound weight of some food
commodity or other, according to her means, and donates it to the Winter Help.
In thus alleviating distress among needy families the housewife expresses her
sense of duty towards her less fortunate neighbours.
Clothes are collected on a large
scale. When these are in need of repair they are sent to special sewing
workrooms attached to the Winter Help Independently of these donations new
household linen is collected at the shops, paid for when necessary, and
distributed where it is needed. Millions of pairs of stockings and sets of
domestic linen are distributed. In the first year of the Winter Help 92.437.694
pairs of boots and shoes were issued. And all this was done and is being done
not in a patronizing way but in a spirit of solidarity between the several
members of the community. All tendencies towards treating the needy as
belonging to a permanent class called the proletariat have been abolished.
The economic importance of the
Winter Help is also demonstrated in these figures. No better illustration can
be given of this importance than the measures adopted for the distribution of
fresh fish. Before the Winter Help was founded the average consumption of fresh
fish throughout the whole of Germany, -ith its sixty-seven million inhabitants,
did not exceed the average consumption of London alone. The poor demand for
fresh fish made it necessary to convert the catches into fish meal for animals.
But the proceeds did not even cover the expenses of making this meal. The first
attempt made to sell fish to the public through the Winter Help resulted in the
purchase of one thousand tons of fish by the Winter Help at a reasonable price.
This amount was distributed among needy families. In the second year of the
Winter Help the amount purchased and distributed came to nearly three thousand
tons. In the third and fourth years the figures were respectively 8.250 and
9.350 tons. These totals indicate how the fish habit was introduced into whole
provinces that had hitherto not been accustomed to using fish as a staple diet.
In this way the action of the Winter Help created a natural demand which has
extended even beyond the winter months, the result being that the general
public now consumes ever so much more fish than previously. Of course the fish
purchased by the Winter Help is transported in the most modem refrigerator
cars. In distributing the fish suitable cooking recipes are also handed to the
housewives at the same time.
In this way the Winter Help has
been largely instrumental in keeping the deep sea fisheries fully occupied
right through the winter months as well. All these activities illustrate the
national-economic importance of the Winter Help. From this point of view the
donation of vital necessities to needy people allows them to spend whatever
little money they have for other supplies and little amenities. Thus it happens
that goods are purchased which otherwise would remain unsold. A genuine
increase in purchasing power has thus been brought about, resulting in trade
revival within those branches where the need of stich a revival had been keenly
felt
Wherever possible the Winter
Help places its orders for Collection Day badges in the distressed areas.
Street collections by members of various party organizations are held once a
month and badges that have been manufactured in these distressed areas are then
sold for the equivalent of twopence each. Several millions of these badges are
sold. An average of one half-penny each is paid for their cost. The badges
themselves vary in design and material from one month to another. They are made
of lace, ivory, porcelain, amber and artificial flowers. As time went on the
designs have become more and more artistic and are now objects of interest to
collectors.
No badges are sold when the
Party and State chiefs make their annual collection on the Day of National
Solidarity. This Solidarity Day is another exemplification of the community of
feeling which now exists between the ruling authorities and the bulk of the
population. A steady increase in the amounts collected on this day throughout
the whole Reich is shown in the returns for the last three years. These were,
respectively: 4.0292.000 Marks for 1934, 4.085.000 for 1935, and 5.662.000
Marks for 1936. The amount of money collected on National Solidarity Day in 1937
was 8.071.180 marks.
In guaranteeing the actual cash
monies necessary to carry on the work of the Winter Help, voluntary deductions
from salaries and wages play a very important part. With the increase of
employment throughout the whole country there came an increase of contributions
to the treasury of the Winter Help, which shows the practical economic reaction
to the Winter Help policy. Again and again it has been proved that the work
thus carried on has awakened a sense of moral responsibility in the individual.
And this is equally true of the small as well as the big donor. No hard and
fast rules have been made. Donations given in rich areas are distributed in the
poorer areas. A sound basis of equalization in distribution had to be
established not only for actual gifts in kind but also for financial help. The
work of the organization has been sectionalized on the model of the National
Socialist Party organization - that is to say, into regions, districts and
local centres-, thus making it possible to control the whole machinery of
collection and distribution at a glance. The districts submit a weekly
statement of accounts to the regional authorities and these in turn issue daily
reports to national headquarters. This strict control practically excludes the
possibility of any irregularities occurring, although this possibility has to
be taken into account where 1.500.000 voluntary helpers are engaged. That is
the secret of the low administration costs of the whole undertaking Originally
these amounted to barely one percent. Subsequently they increased to 1.8 %.
This was due to the increasing necessity of employing full time social workers,
so that gradually it was possible to distribute subsidies on a basis of
definitely ascertained family necessities as against a basis of mere mass
distribution.
Reviewing the final achievements
of the Winter Help, we are first struck by the fact that these have been made
possible not by a bulk of large donations from outstanding rich persons or
communities but rather by the small contributions from individuals in the rank
and file of the nation. Once every month those families that are normally
accustomed to more than one course for their Sunday dinner restrict themselves
to one course and contribute the financial equivalent of the extra course or
courses to the Winter Help. This plan is also followed by the restaurants,
where the management receives the price of a full meal from his client and pays
over to the Winter Help the margin which he saves by merely serving one course.
This margin is stipulated according to a definite schedule. The Sunday
one-course dinner has now become a national custom and has the symbolic
significance of breaking bread with the fellow members of the community. The
Winter Help has also established a National Lottery, in which tickets are sold
at an equivalent of sixpence each. This has proved extremely popular, the more
so as winnings are paid out immediately. Finally, a plan has been put into
operation whereby the Winter Help receives a quota of all game which has been
killed during the season.
Thus the Winter Help has become
an important influence in domestic politics inasmuch as it tends to break down
class and party barriers. An institution which in times of severe economic
depression Succeeded in awakening a new spirit of solidarity among the people
will not allow its energy to lag in times of prosperity. This is where the
value of the Winter Help as a far-reaching social educative factor lies. Its
reception among the masses of the people was not due to any dictation from
above but the manner in which it is being carried out is entirely due to the
spontaneous collaboration of the people. From its foundation onwards it has had
the character of a self-help undertaking based on the entirely new social order
introduced by the National Socialist Movement.
At the beginning the Winter Help
distributed its subsidies in a general way to individuals who claimed to be in
need; but with the passing of time it has been possible to introduce a modus
operandi wherein the family becomes the principle object of attention. In this
way it was possible to investigate and obtain an estimate of the measure of
distress existing among needy families. As a logical consequence of these
investigations there developed the conviction that there was a definite call
for other work along the same lines as the Winter Help but in different
spheres. One of the principal results of this conviction was the establishment
of the „Mother and Child“ section of the N.S.V.
The predominant feature of the
distress existing among the individual families was due to unfavourable housing
conditions. Many of them were living in dingy tenement lodgings in the large
cities. Prolonged unemployment had given rise to a general feeling of indifference
and despair. People had begun to think that life was not worth living because
the conditions in which they had to live were considered as unalterable. This
feeling helped to weaken the whole basis of family life. And finally the
indifference of the ruling authorities and their failure to adopt any policy
for the maintenance of family existence contributed to destroy the family idea
itself. Nothing could be done here until a sound policy for the care of the
family as such had been adopted. Therefore, the first move was to find regular
and assured employment once again for the fathers of families. Conditions in
1933 were the reverse of encouraging. Young people were afraid to undertake the
responsibilities of married life and thus the normal quota of marriages fell
considerably, because existence itself had become a problem for which no
satisfactory solution was in sight.
For twenty years, during the War
and the inflation and the troubled times arising from the class-conflict among
the people, the mother was almost the sole support of the family. During the
War she had to do men’s work arid no matter how hard she might labour she found
it impossible to secure the vital necessities for her children. When the father
became unemployed she tried to save the situation by undertaking work that was
paid at a lower rate than if it had been done by a man and thus she became
disillusioned as to the possibility of being able to earn enough to support the
family. According to investigations made in 1932, only ten percent of children
attending the primary schools were well nourished, while 41 % were definitely
under-nourished. Thus it happened that the health and physique of a large
proportion of school children suffered seriously and the problem now was to
find some means of repairing those damages. Rickets grew more prevalent and
constitutional resistance to attacks of influenza and other diseases steadily
became weaker. In face of all this, the woman as guardian of the family began
to feel discouraged in her struggle.
When at length, after years of
struggle and anxiety, the head of the family once again found employment the
mother’s powers of resistance had been exhausted. The national welfare services
had therefore to be directed towards the moral and physical rehabilitation of
mother and children. This could only be done, as in the case of the Winter
Help, by mass collaboration, so as to relieve the most urgent cases of
distress.
Under the aegis of the N.S.V. a
Reich Committee of Action was founded. The members of this Committee were
selected from government and municipal officials, the Party and its
organizations, as well as ecclesiastical welfare associations. In this work the
following organizations collaborated: The Central Committee of the Evangelical
Church for Internal Missions, the Catholic Charitable League, the German Red
Cross, the Executive Council of the German Sick Benefit Societies, the Reich ‘Midwives’
Association, social workers in factories, the Association of German Nurses etc.
This community of helpers thus assures the organic and sound development of the
„Mother and Child“ organization. Public support and a readiness to make
sacrifices were also essential for the success of this undertaking. As time
went on it became clear that this movement had also become an integral factor
of the folk community.
With all this support it was
possible quickly to develop a widespread System of recuperation and rest for
mothers and their children. During the period from May 1934 to April 1935
approximately 53.000 mothers were sent away by the N.S.V. to specially
constructed homes in the country for a stay of three weeks to enable them to
recover their strength. But the work could not possibly end here; because it
was necessary to adopt measures whereby mothers would be replaced during their
absence. Girls and women had to be chosen to look after the family at home, to
keep the house going, cook the meals, wash and mend for the children etc. Girl
students came forward and voluntarily offered their Services for this work.
In the recuperative homes
mothers are given not only medical care and attention, but have the chance of a
well-earned rest, probably for the first time in their lives. Through a series
of friendly talks on various subjects problems are dealt with which are
interesting to every mother of a family. The field of vision is widened. New
cooking recipes and experiences in household methods are discussed and
exchanged. Thus those weeks of rest and recuperation are also weeks in which
the minds of the mothers are stimulated and furnished with new and brighter
ideas.
Naturally the „Mother and Child“
movement is in no way confined to those women who are members of the National
Socialist Party or women of any one particular class. Women of the National
Socialist Party are cared for in the same manner and to the same extent as
women who have belonged to political parties that were formerly opposed to
National Socialism.
The same guiding principles
apply in the case of children sent to the country for holidays and
recuperation. Here again the present regime shows that it has no intention of trying
to win over the, nation by coercive methods but rather will the wholehearted
suffrage of the public through the influence of practical and visible results,
Up to the end of 1934 the number of children sent to the country to recuperate
came to 545.115. These children were housed and fed in special homes or as
guests in farm homesteads. Many helping hands came forward in the country and
thus made it possible for the N.S.V. to carry out its work for the children on
such a large scale. More than half a million children from the big cities and
industrial areas thus experienced for the first time what real home life was
like. They saw, often for the first time, cattle grazing in the meadows, they
felt the charm of the countryside, of the mountains, lakes and the sea. They
had the unique experience of coming into contact with the customs of the
peasantry, rural customs and festivities and with the peaceful charm of Nature,
in contrast to the hustle and bustle of city life. Above all, it was the work
of the farmer that turned out most impressive to the mind of the city child.
The spirit of the city child struck roots, as it were, once again in the soil
of its forefathers. When these children returned home they brought with them
the refreshing memory of the countryside and would relate its wonders and
beauties to their companions.
Thus the sending of children to
the country is not only a means of enabling them to recuperate their health but
it has also an educative function which justifies the great efforts involved in
it. Not only was the first year of this work eminently successful, but success
has steadily increased year by year in proportion to the number of trained
women workers that it was possible to engage for the „Mother and Child“ work.
It is not to be wondered at that family life is once again being properly
esteemed, with the result that the general standard of life has been raised. It
is not the financial support that is of primary importance in a sound family
policy but the fact that this policy is carried through on principles that
respect the personal dignity of the people assisted.
Once the family realizes that
the nation desires to promote the health of its children and their mental as
well as bodily efficiency, when the mother has been restored to her natural
function as mother and housewife, when the husband is no longer forced by
circumstances to look after the household but to do the work, which corresponds
to his natural calling, then this restoration of family dignity must redound to
the benefit of the nation.
The increase in the number of
qualified people who had passed through numerous training establishments and
were employed by the N.S.V. as nurses, sisters, kindergarten teachers etc.,
made it possible for the organization to set up numerous aid and advisory
centres for mothers and their children. During the first six months of 1936,
1.390.790 women received advice and help in these N.S.V. centres. In September
1937 accommodation for a total of 251.439 children was available at 2.616
permanent nurseries and 4.119 at nurseries set up during harvest time. Trained
workers of the N.S.V. were busy everywhere in town and country, in crèches and
children’s homes. Consequent on the unification of the public health services,
all medical consulting centres established by the N.S.V. in 1934 are now under
the control of the government health authorities. Some of the homes also were
transformed to meet certain definite requirements. Thus, for instance, we now
have homes which are exclusively reserved for elderly mothers and other homes
for expectant mothers. Then there are the special homes where mothers and their
infants receive care and medical attention. In these latter homes, the mother
is taught how to care for and feed her infant from the very first day of its
existence. She is taught that proper feeding need not always be expensive and
that even though costing relatively little it might still contain the vital
elements necessary for the proper nourishment of the child.
The number of homes for children
who need special care and attention has also increased considerably. In the harvest
kindergartens the children are well cared for and receive excellent food. They
learn to sing folk songs. Stories are told them and other such little
entertainments are provided for which busy hard-working mothers never have
sufficient time. The harvest kindergarten system has grown from year to year
and has helped considerably to improve the general standard of infantile
health. Moreover, the system has reduced the toll of accidents to children and
has kept the children from doing damage. Of the fires which have broken out in
homes during one year it has been shown that in 5.000 cases these were caused
by children between the ages of two to seven years. Therefore, the harvest
kindergarten removes one great source of danger to property and life.
In the distressed areas of the
Reich special measures had to be adopted. In collaboration with the dental
profession the N.S.V. has purchased and equipped sixty travelling dental
clinics which visit the outlying village schools to examine the teeth of the
children and give them the necessary treatment. In 1938 the number of these
travelling dental clinics will be doubled. There were many village communities
in which 95 % of the school children were found to have unsound teeth. It was
found that this state of affairs was due to improper feeding. Such a thing will
be eliminated for the future through the combined efforts of the authorities
concerned. In Lower Bavaria the N.S.V. are now erecting the first Health
Station which is meant to serve the purpose of systematically taking care of
those young people who are suffering from trouble that may be congenital and
adopting the most modem means to get rid of these troubles.
As a result of all these
endeavours, we find that a noticeable change has taken place in the curve of
infant mortality. Within a short space of time infant mortality has fallen from
8.3 % of births in 1931 to 6.6 % in 1936. One might reply to this by saying
that infant mortality during the last ten years, even during the most acute
periods of economic depression, also fell. But it should be remembered that the
decreasing ratio was much smaller in the first half of the decade. It never
amounted to 1,5 %. To this must be added the fact that the number of large
families in Germany has considerably increased since 1933 and that experience
shows that infant mortality in large families is greater than in small
families. Hygienic methods can be more easily observed in small families than
in large. This alone is sufficient proof that the present low rate of Infant
mortality when compared with previous years has resulted at least partly from
the measures adopted by the N.S.V. The „Mother and Child“ Section as well as
the German Women’s Organization can pride themselves on having saved the lives
of about 1.40.000 children during the last four years. According to the old
standard of living, these lives would have most probably been lost. In the year
1934 the number of children who died during the first year of their existence
was 13.827. Of these children more than 50 % died within the first month. It is
on the basis of the lesson to be drawn from this fact that certain particular
measures have been adopted. The N.S.V. pays particular attention to the
expectant mother and has advisory centres everywhere for the purpose of giving
skilled advice.
In close collaboration with the
Hitler Youth, the N.S.V. has established a system of taking care of juvenile
offenders, whose conduct has resulted from defective upbringing, and placing
these youths under kindly influences which will make them realize the meaning
of their errors. In cases where this process proves successful, a stage is
reached where positive training of character comes into play. Homes have been
set up where refractory children who have proved difficult to educate are
housed and taken care of. The Hitler Youth helps in this work, inasmuch as it
inculcates its own principles of honourable conduct in the hearts of wayward
youths. Finally, six months of compulsory work in the Labour Service has the
effect of bringing the hitherto wayward youngster back to that kind of life
which he was meant to lead.
The fight against tuberculosis
furnishes one of the most important grounds for the activities of the N.S.V.
This is a problem that is of primary importance not only in Germany, but in all
civilized countries. The tuberculosis problem is not a new phenomenon. But the
fight against it has hitherto not been conducted under a unified command. For
this reason, a Central Committee to combat tuberculosis was established in 1933.
Within the framework of this Committee the N.S.V. in conjunction with the
National Committee of Public Health, was empowered to fill up the gaps and
consolidate the work of fighting the disease which the medical and health
insurance authorities had hitherto been unable to cope with. Here it is not a
question of relieving others of the financial responsibility for the work, but
the primary function of the N.S.V. is to see to it that those responsible for
the financial costs-the various social insurance offices etc. - connected with
the treatment of tuberculosis will have to fulfil their obligations. Only when
financial support has come to an end, according to the terms of insurance
contracts etc., it then devolves upon the N.S.V. to take further care of the
sufferers.
The first step to be taken in
combatting tuberculosis is to remove the conditions which favour its
development in the individual and the spread of infection to others. Economic
distress and undernourishment, insanitary housing conditions, insufficient clothing
and warmth in winter, furnish the conditions under which children easily fall
victims to the disease. By placing family life on a healthy basis many of the
preliminary conditions leading to tuberculosis were successfully eliminated. It
happens often that people who are earning their livelihood for themselves and
their families are afraid to give up work and undergo the proper treatment,
because they think that by doing so they may lose their positions. Therefore,
they often try to hang on as long as possible, though by doing so the
development of the disease renders their subsequent chances of convalescence
less hopeful and, furthermore, they become a source of infection to their
immediate environment. For these reasons the N.S.V. takes effective steps to
assure every patient that no economic losses will be involved if treatment be
at once undertaken and continued for as long a time as necessary. In other
words, the N.S.V. becomes the trustee of the family and makes itself
responsible for the family welfare.
It only remains to mention the
influence which the work of the N.S.V. exercises on the various callings and
professions. In order to carry out its task it requires specially trained
staffs, both male and female, to do duty as nurses, kindergarten teachers,
supervisors of homes etc. The total number employed in the „Mother and Child“
Section amounted to 279.156 at the end of 1936. This sphere of activity which
was once exclusively occupied by the churches or under their aegis is now in
the hands of the N.S.V. This is a very significant transformation because this
sphere is one of the most important in educating the members of the national
community.
The training of a National
Socialist Nursing Sisterhood is one of the principal features of the N.S.V. The
nurses are trained and equipped for their work by a two years’ course in
hospitals. They are then employed as district nurses particularly in distressed
areas. These nurses are looked upon by the people of each locality as their
faithful helpers and advisers. The district nurse is the responsible person to
whom all questions of health have to be referred. The Mother House of the
Nursing Sisterhood is undenominational. The nurses may marry without having to
give up the practice of their profession. And so among professional occupations
for women a new type has been created.
Every nation desires to have a
social order that will correspond to its natural traditions and ideals. For the
first time in its history Germany is now creating the social order that corresponds
to the yearnings and the ideals of the German people as a whole. Within the
short space of five years a great advance has been made towards definitely
superseding the old order of things. And the N.S.V. is the pioneer of all this
work. The secret of the success that has hitherto been achieved lies in the
educative system which has brought the people to realize that the claims which
the individual has on the community must be equally balanced with the duties
that he owes to this same community.
Statement
of Account
The total assistance rendered by
the Winter Help as:
1933/34
|
350.000.356 marks
|
1934/35
|
360.493.430
marks
|
1935/36
|
371.943.908 marks
|
1936/37
|
408.323.140
marks
|
The following statistics and
figures are quoted from the General Report for 1936/37.
Stated in terms of money, the
assistance which the Winter Help rendered to those in need during the Winter of
19361/37 has been valued as follows:
Foodstuffs, groceries etc.
|
124.080.304.02 marks
|
Domestic Fuel
|
2.937.592.36 marks
|
Clothing
|
78.965.296.514 marks
|
Objects for Household Use
|
9.519.671.89 marks
|
Coupons and various gifts
|
38.030.041.72 marks
|
Sundry Expenditures
|
1.650.106.53 marks
|
In order to dispense as far as
possible with the necessity of carrying out collections during the rest of the
year, the Winter Help gave a subsidy of 16.500.000 marks in 1936/37 to the
German Red Cross and the other welfare organizations. Over and above this
subsidy, 3.000.000 marks were given from the Winter Help funds to the N.S.V. to
be used in the treatment of patients suffering from tuberculosis.
Among the gifts in kind which
were made by the Winter Help during 1936/37 were the following:
Potatoes
|
10.956.038 cwts
|
Coal, coke and peat
|
42.543.420 cwts
|
Sundry foodstuffs
|
2.512.448 cwts
|
Clothing, shoes, household
linen, beds, bedding etc. pairs
|
13.047.459 pieces
|
Free meals, school and Winter
Help meals
|
32.980.559
|
Tickets for theatres, concerts
and cinemas which were placed at the disposal of the Winter Help gratis
|
3.734.752
|
Gifts of various objects, such
as books, musical instruments, toys etc.
|
3.212.462 pieces
|
The German national railways,
the private railways and the light railways forwarded 53.132.128 cwts of goods
for the Winter Help during 1936/37. This involved 3.542 freight trains of 50
waggons each. Through the free transport of these goods, the German national
railways, the private railways and light railways contributed the value of a
sum of money amounting to 17.527.980.06 marks.
The decrease in unemployment has
continued to show itself in the decreased number of people who had to be
assisted by the Winter Help. Thus, for instance, in 1933/34 253 persons out of
every 1000 inhabitants had to be helped. In 1934/35 this number was reduced to
211 and in 1935/36 to 194. Last year, 1936/37, only 161 people in every thousands
of the inhabitants had to be helped.
The number of assistants engaged
in the Winter Help for 1936/37 to whom salaries and compensation were paid
amounted to 0.6 % of the average number of helpers, that is to say, 0.6 % out
of 1.349.008.
The working expenses of the
Winter Help for 1936/37 were very small. They amounted to 1.8 % of the total
assistance rendered.
The Day of National Solidarity
brought in 1.577.465.70 marks more in 1936 than in de previous year. This
increase in the social plebiscite, as the Day of National Solidarity is rightly
called, amounted to 38.6 %.
In comparison with 1935/36 the
one-dish Sunday contributions showed a gain of 1.769.867.50 marks.
The street collection throughout
the Reich were in enormous success in 1936/37. These brought in 30.531.925.24
marks, which was an increase of 12.122.610.95 marks or 65.7 % on the previous
year.
118.662.178 Winter Help badges
were sold on the streets, which was an increase of 47.352.819 over the previous
year. As in former years, the production cost of these badges was paid out in
the distressed areas and helped to give auxiliary work there.
The popular Christmas
festivities inaugurated by the Winter Help were carried out also in 1936/37.
Three million children belonging to very poor families were entertained at
these Christmas festivities, which numbered 23.000 in all.
Hitherto the resources of the
Winter Help were applied exclusively to relieving the appalling distress which
the National Socialist regime found on coming into power. But the fundamental
principle of National Socialist Welfare Services is not merely to fight the
ills from which the nation suffers hut to remove the causes of these ills as
far as that is possible. In this direction the steady improvement in economic
conditions has made it possible for the Winter Help to devote attention to
other spheres. In 1936/37, 59.597.469.88 marks were spent for the „Mother and
Child“ section and the National Mothers’ Welfare.
In this way the work done by the
„Mother and Child“ section increased considerably. At the end of 1936 the
number of relief and advisory centres was an increase of 37.7 % over the
previous year. These 26.279 relief and advisory centres dealt with 3.410.848
persons. In 1936 185.845 expectant mothers and mothers during confinement were
cared for, also 99.168 infants.
From May 1934 until the end of
1936 175.892 mothers were cared for during recuperative periods. The number of
days in all came to 4.657.316. From this number 69.876 mothers were cared for
during recuperative vacations in the year 1936 alone.
In the sphere of kindergarten
work an average of 176.803 free meals were given each month to the children.
In order to relieve mothers with
large families and housewives who had become ill, 80.817 cases were dealt with
either by sending special auxiliary household helpers or doing substitute work
for mothers at their ordinary places of employment.
The section which deals with
recuperative vacations for the youth treated 417.072 to a vacation during 1936.
The purpose we have in view here
is to bring the rate of infant mortality as low as possible and especially to
see to it that children who are born healthy will be developed into healthy
specimens of the race. Therefore the section „Mother and Child“ is of special
significance for our work in the future. And its scope will grow larger from
year to year.
