Faith and Beauty Society

The BDM-Werk Glaube und Schönheit, the BDM Belief and Beauty Society, was founded in 1938 to serve as a tie-in between the work in the League of German Girls (BDM) and that of the Nazi Frauenschaft. Membership was voluntary and open to girls between the ages of 17 and 21.

About

The Belief and Beauty Society was founded in 1938 to serve as a tie-in between the League of German Girls and the Nazi Frauenschaft. The idea was that girls should be part in the work for the whole Volksgemeinschaft before they went on to either jobs, or - ideally - to marry and have children.

Membership was voluntary and open to girls between the ages of 17 and 21. The work in the Society was mainly geared toward priming the girls for their tasks as wives and mothers, and while courses offered were very interesting for many girls and ranged from fashion design to healthy living, the overall idea was to teach them home economics so they would properly run their households, cook well for their future families, and care properly for their future children.

According to Dr. Jutta Rüdiger, who had taken over as the leader of the League of German Girls in 1937, "The task of our Girls League is to raise our girls as torch bearers of the national-socialist world. We need girls who are at harmony between their bodies, souls, and spirits. And we need girls who, through healthy bodies and balanced minds, embody the beauty of divine creation. We want to raise girls who believe in Germany and our leader, and who will pass these beliefs on to their future children."

Sources

• "Das BDM Werk Glaube und Schoenheit" DVD, Zeitreisen Verlag
• "Ein Leben fuer die Jugend" by Dr. Jutta Ruediger
• BDM Historical Research Site