Scholtz-Klink, Gertrud (1902–1999)
Scholtz-Klink, Gertrud (1902–1999)
German Nazi leader. Born in Adelsheim, Baden, Germany, Feb 9, 1902; died Mar 24, 1999, in Bebenhausen, Germany; married 3 times; children: 11.
Joined Nazi Party (1928); appointed Nazi women's leader in German state of Baden (1929), which led to a promotion to head the women's group in Hessen (1931); became prominent in Nazi national organization for women party leaders, the Nationalsozialistisches Frauenschaft (National Socialist Women's Association, or NSF), as well as in the group designed to incorporate the rank and file of Germany's women, the Deutsches Frauenwerk (German Women's Enterprise, or DFW); named head of national Women's Labor Service (Frauenarbeitsdienst, 1934); took charge of both the NSF and the DFW, becoming Reichsfrauenführerin (women's Führer) and thus exercising the same dictatorial power within these organizations as Hitler did on the national scale (1934); enjoyed considerable autonomy within the boundaries of her own bureaucratic organizations; outside this realm, wielded no power; captured by Soviet soldiers (1945), was able to escape, living under an assumed name in the French occupation zone; arrested (1948), served 18 months; remained convinced that the Third Reich had been beneficial to the German people and particularly to its women.
See also Women in World History.