The Second World War had a devastating effect on Europe as well as some parts of Asia and Africa. The war was ended on 12th September 1945 but the consequences were so great that it dismantled the human life intensely (Hart, 2015). According to the report, there are 12 million soldiers and more than 25 million civilians were killed due to not only the war and fire but also for the huger and diseases that the Second World War had created. In addition to this, huge amount of properties were also turned into ashes and America also had to spend $350 billion for restoring the infrastructures and buildings. In this context, the situation in Germany was far extent. During the war the German economy became so much ravaged that it caused economic crisis leading towards the huger. In fact, the long drawn war swallowed up all the resources of Germany and as a result of that 3.5 million German Civilians had died(Ross, 2015). The post war trauma affected the German youths in such a way that the very fabric of the German society with its institutions and organisations or the social capital was destroyed. Malnutrition and outbreaks of communicable diseases put an adverse impact on the German communities and the country as a whole.
In response to that the role of the rubble women in Germany is highly relevant. It can be argued that after the end of the Second World War these women were entitled to remove the ruins. Women at the age from 15 to 50 were participated in the post war clean-up camps with the purpose to restore the lost glory of Germany. In Germany, due to the allied bombings half of the German schools and 40% of the infrastructures were ruined and as a result of the 7.5 million people became homeless. In this context, the rubble women played a significant role as state of emergency works so that the reconstruction could begin.
Based on this understanding, the purpose of this essay is to clearly figure out the role of rubble women in the aftermath of the Second World War in order to reconstruct the buildings and infrastructure of Germany. In course of the discussion, the essay tries to identify the amount of destruction and demolition that Germany had witnessed at first. After that, the essay also takes some initiatives to understand the perception regarding the rubble women in Germany and then the essay keeps an eye on the impact of the rubble women in creating better infrastructure in Germany.
The Second World War was considered to be an important facet in the modern history of Europe. The clash between the Axis power and the allied force caused heavy damage in the soil of Europe. As a result of that after the end of the World War II it became important for the great powers to refurbish its previous situation. It included not only reviving the economy but also re-constructing the architectures and buildings by removing the debris of the Second World War. In his research Glantz & House (2015) pointed out that after the end of the WWII military vehicles and remaining of the buildings were stood as a memory of the atrocities caused by the World War II. The unexploded ordinances, tanks and other military vehicles were left out in the highway junctions and the railroad sidings. Moreover, Goodwin (2013) argued that after the end of the war France became a scrap yard for the military vehicles where more than thousand Allied and German vehicles were awaited for shipment. As a matter of fact, the German prisoners of war piled up their unusable pieces of steel. In this context, the research of Spielvogel (2016) rightly focused on the artificial hill on the Western side of the city of Berlin. It was piled up with the rubble from the wartime bombardment and carried out the gruesome memories of the World War II and the locals named it Devil’s Mountain.
It can be argued that after the end of the Second World War Germany had witnessed most damages where the allied bombing and the raids destroyed around 3,600,000 dwelling units in Germany. As a result of that more than 7 million Germans became deserted and a number of 600,000 civilians were died. According to Stephenson (2014) there was huge damage of not only the dwelling units but also the government buildings and historical architectures were also demolished by the Allied Air Force. The impact of this raid had a deep impact on 45% houses in the urban areas of Germany. In his study, Paxton (2017) revealed a detail damage of the German provinces and categorised the regions in terms of the intensity of the damages. Moreover, the report provided by Voigtländer and Voth (2015) stated that in Wurzburg 89% of the build-up area was destroyed. On the other hand, in Remscheid and Bochum it was estimated 83% and Hamburg and Wuppertal witnessed a destruction of buildings of 75%. In this context, most of the big buildings and the apartment houses were the victim of destruction. However, the local schools, hospitals, churches, museums and other public buildings also failed to change their fate and became a victim of the Allied forces’ destructive policy. In his study Bauer, Braun, and Kvasnicka (2013) opined that the British Royal Air Force (RAF) practiced a specific policy of raid during the Second World War that was named as “night precision bombing” and their primary targets were the industrial plants and the air-fields. According to Burchardi and Hassan (2013) the intervention of US troops in the European theatre escalated the damages in Germany. With the help of the UK air force the Allied force became an invincible army. At the end of the 1943 the US pilots were authorised to undertake attacks on the German cities through carpet bombing (Ash, 2013). Therefore, the attacks on almost all the major and minor German cities had become the major objective for the Allied Air Force.
Defining the rubble women
The rubble women or the Trummerfrau were the German citizens who played a significant role after the end of the Second World War. According to Akbulut-Yuksel, Khamis & Yuksel (2017) it can be argued that most of the middle and poor class German women took the initiatives as their male counterparts to revive the political and social stability in Germany. Their main task was to remove the remaining and the debris of the buildings and monuments that were demolished due to the aerial attacks by the Allied Air Forces. In this context, the debris were mainly associated with the remaining of the buildings and monuments that were historical and general as well. As per the research of O’Keefe (2017) most of those buildings could be seen in the industrial and urban regions all over the German country. As a matter of fact, the role of rubble women was associated with the purpose to help the country more than they did for themselves (Akbulut-Yuksel, Khamis and Yuksel, 2016). Therefore, it could be argued that their passion and love for the country pushed the German women to participate in the cleaning program to make the economy revive again and ushered development in the wake of the post Second World War period.
On the other hand, Wilson (2016) advocated that the young women were mainly assigned the job to do the clean ups. In this regard, it can be stated that most of the young women were came from the poor and middle class family because the aristocrats and the posh women were reluctant to do such things. On the contrary Fritz (2016) showed that women from different ages were participated in the program and there was no such age barrier to get participated. Henceforth, women from the age between 15 and 50 were eagerly participate in the clean-up. Nevertheless a social difference were still there where women belonged to the rich families did not want to engage in the clean-up programs (Caldwell & Hanshew, 2018). From that point of view, it can be derived that the even after the end of the Second World War the social hierarchy was still existed in the German society where the rich women were identified as so sophisticated that they were not willing to engage in the activities like the clean-up. In addition to this, the social inequality portrayed the feelings for the German nation as well. As per the research carried out by Nelson (2014) it can be seen that there was huge gap in perception among the women regarding the passion for the country. As a matter of fact, the rich women were very self-centred and on the contrary the middle class and poor women had a deep interests on their pride and country. It drove them to take the responsibilities of the clean-up in the aftermath of Second World War.
Besides this, Zepp (2017) pointed out that the rubble women started a new period of female working labourers that was absent in the previous times. In fact, the German society was very conservative and as a result of that German women did not have the right to prefer job as working labour. However, during the Second World War Germany suffered with a huge death toll and most of the dead were the males. Therefore, it was obvious that after the end of the war there would be a shortage of labourer in Germany (Al-Qaraghuli, Alsayed and Almoghazy, 2017). That scenario helped the women to make a strategic upliftment and it was seen during the year of 1946 when the age old conservative tradition of keeping the female citizens aside from the front labour had to be repealed. From that point of view the rubble women ushered a new phase of redemption and revolution for the German women. As far as the research of Stone (2017) is concerned, in the wake of the end of the Second World War German women were recruited in a random process to fill-up the vacancies as at that time there were seven million more women in Germany in compare to males. In this context, the private organisations played a significant role by employing a bulk of women labourers for removing the ruins. They used primarily picks and hand- winches to pile up the bricks and other remains out of the streets
According to Feigel (2016) on the European theatre of war and particularly in Germany the carpet bombing and the aerial bombardment had caused a number of devastation and demolition of the German buildings and edifices. Williamson (2014) in his study showed that during the Second World War, over one-half million tons of high explosives were dropped in the cities of Germany. In fact, this fatal attack was not only encircled itself in the German cities but also the outskirts and the rural sectors were also got affected by these “heroic” attack of the Allied Forces.
In this context, the German women came forward to clear and reconstruct the bombed cities. As many men died and became prisoners in the prolonged 6 years’ war therefore the women played a paramount role to revive the lost German hope (Bellofiore, 2013). In this context, the private enterprises provides the leverage for the women labourers to participate in the clean-up program. The main task was to knock down the remaining parts of the buildings that had survived in the allied bombing and unable to reconstruct or not safe. It required the heavy machines to demolish the structures. In addition to this, the role of the rubble women was to clear up the remnants of the demolish building and stacked it properly (Mackenbach, 2013). As a matter of fact, the clean-up was not the only thing that the rubble women were practiced. In his research work Bauer, Braun and Kvasnicka (2013) argued that wood and steel beams, wash basins, toilets, pipes and other household products had a great value in the German market because after the end of the war the German economy was devastated to a great extent and as a result of that the rubble women were started to collect those household products as well. As far as the research of Rosenow (2013) was concerned, it can be stated that the rubble women were both volunteer and regular workers. It means many of them chose the rubble work as profession and as the economic condition of Germany was highly poor at that time so they had to income for survive (Spielvogel, 2016). Furthermore, there was no seasonal labourers and most of them were all seasoned workers with an organised columns where every group had ten to twenty people approximately.
Based on this understanding, the discussion further cares to explain the role of the rubble women in terms of the regional variations in Germany.
Aachen was considered to be one of the most devastated city in Germany. Almost the entire city was ravaged by the allied attack. Therefore, it was very hard to make the city refurbish again. In this context, the rubble women played the most important part. Despite of having male workers the number of workers were not adequate enough in Aachen and the authority intended to incorporate the females to set up the city as soon as possible (Donert, 2013). As a result of that the rubble women worked hard day and night for just one bowl of soup. For their benevolent contribution, in Aachen a memorial for the rubble women was founded (Sederberg, 2014).
Big cities like the capital Berlin was greatly devastated due to the carpet bombing by Allied forces. In the city 10% of the buildings were beyond reconstruction. Moreover, in the central district up to 30% of the houses were destroyed. These fatal situation of Berlin required effective treatment in order to swipe the remaining as soon as possible (Frank, 2018). Due to the fatal loss of able labourers it became a problem for the authority to manage the debris. In the war most of the able bodied German men were sent to the warfront and a few of them came back (Hyvönen et al., 2016). In fact, the war trauma and the post-war shock made them unable to perform any job. Therefore, the women were the only available options for the German authority to clean-up the pile of debris.
In Bremen the inclusion of the women was based on a different purpose and unlike the other cities in Germany Bremen succeeded to establish a women front that led the country towards a new phase of development. As a matter of fact, the Bremen organisation introduced a two hour meeting on Mother’s day to portray the power of the German women (Mackenbach, 2013). Those rubble women though never restricted themselves in the practice of swiping the remnants rather they encouraged other people to get engaged in the rumbling program. Henceforth, various activity groups participated in the meetings and the German youths took pledge to develop a better German society.
In case of Chemnitz, the role of the rubble women became iconic as they were the sole responsible people to refurbish the region. Due to the heavy attack both by the air force and military the city became a ravaged one and there was no scope to reconstruct the destroyed buildings. Therefore, the rubble women were manned in order to clear- up the city and made it popular and developed as it was before. Out of respect for the contribution of the rubble women in 2001 a carillon with 25 bells were installed dedicated to the rubble women (Bellofiore, 2013).
From that point of view, it can be argued that the German women played a significant role in re-establish the lost glory of the country. Through their devotion and passion for the country as well as efforts for re-establishing the cities the rubble women encouraged the German citizens that they could revive despite of having a series of obstacles. As a matter of fact, it can be argued that the women empowerment was established through repealed the draconian conservative measures. From that point of view it was imperative to understand the role of the rubble women in Germany and also evaluate their efforts to regain power in and prestige.
Political
The impact of the rubble women in Germany was so decisive and intense that it left a deep impact in the political discourses of the country. According to Bellofiore (2013)the rubble women were mainly popularised due to their clean up practices across the nation. As a matter of fact, the cleaned up and piled up the remnants of the demolished buildings so that it would be easy to open up the roads and rail tracks for goods and passenger vehicles. However, from the point of the political aspect that ushered a women empowerment that continues still present in Germany. In his study Mackenbach (2013) argued that during the Nazi period women did not enjoy much rights because the Nazi doctrine restricted them to the household tasks. After the end of the war and the engagement of the women in the clean-up program seemed to be an act of emancipation for the German women who were keen to join the army during the Second World War. As a matter of fact, it was argued by Rosenow (2013) that the initiatives carried out by the German women was envisaged as a rebirth of Germany and its political emergence. The rubble women specifically helped to ensure stability and tranquillity in Germany through their daily works. They were identified as the national hero because of their activities and the stern mentality. As a result of that it left a deep impact on the German politics as well where the government wanted to rebuild its system without atoned for the defeat.
Moreover, in the economic aspect the role of the rubble women was also be seen in case of the economic development of Germany in the aftermath of the Second World War. In this context, Bauer, Braun and Kvasnicka (2013) showed that the economic boom in the West Germany during 1950 was quite magnificent where the industrial production was hiked in a rapid pace up to 25 %. In addition to this, in 1950s a series of banks were established like the Central Bank and the Bundesbank that proved the economic development inside the country. Bauer, Braun and Kvasnicka (2013) argued that those economic development was not a just cause that facilitated the country to bring more profit. Many factors were responsible for this economic boom. According to Voigtländer and Voth (2015) before the establishment of the Berlin Wall in 1961 there was still economic progress and business development occurred in unified Germany. As a result of that the employment was also rose from 13.8 million in 1950 to 19.8 in 1960. Therefore, it is undoubtedly clear that the German women contributed significantly in the cause of the economic development in Germany. As per the research work done by Paxton (2017) it can be asserted that the rise in employment was mainly generated by the rubble women who were hitherto not been considered as the major labour force. However, after the participation of the German women it became an important shift in the paradigm of German financial condition that pushed the Allied forces to intervene into the country and set business activities profoundly.
The cultural impact of the rubble women was more transparent in this regard. As Donert (2013) argued that the Nazi government was not entertained any freedom of the German women. They had to confine in home and performed only the household activities. The Nazi doctrine was more focused on their male chauvinism rather than tried to create a gender equality in the country. As a result of that the German women became deprived of their interest and did not get the opportunity to prove their passion and love for Germany. However, after the end of the War the Denazification program was initiated that encouraged the German women to come forward and took the responsibility for the betterment of the country (Sederberg, 2014). In fact, the German women were looking for such opportunity and cleaning up the cities provided them the right platform to show their abilities. Frank (2018) advocated that the transformation of power in Germany after the end of the Second World War paved the way for the German women to revamp their prestige and rights. In was for the first time that Germany had witnessed a labour force that was based on women. It changed the cultural nexus of Germany and incorporated the German women into the process of productivity. Therefore, there was a shift in the working culture in Germany where the German women were also considered as the potential workforce and participated in the development of the nation intricately.
The social impact of the rubble women was also associated with the cultural impact. As far as the social impact of the rubble women are concerned, it can be stated that the clean-up program fostered an equal opportunity for the women to participate in the activities with their male counterparts. The social impact can also be change in case of the death toll that Germany had faced due to the Second World War. After the end of the War the average male citizens in Germany was decreased in a rapid pace and so that the social cohesion was also perturbed as there was inadequate male citizens to perform the tasks that they were supposed to do (Hyvönen et al., 2016). Therefore, the female citizens had to play a significant role in order to do the daily works that was previously done by their father, brother or sons. On the other hand, Rosenow (2013) opined that before 1945 the German society was divided into discriminatory policies based on gender where the male citizens were engaged in the outside tasks and the women had to deal with the household tasks only. However, the fatal effect of the Second World War staged the platform for the women to come to forefront and shared their responsibility with the males. As a result of that it put a great deal of impact on the social order. The fall of Nazism and the significant performance of the rubble women facilitated a better opportunity for the German women to get all the necessary social privileges and recognition.
Conclusion
From the above discussion it can be stated that the entire report puts stern focus on the rubble women and their impact on Germany to a dynamic aspect. In course of the discussion the report tries to develop a background of the rubble women and puts effort to understand the origin of the rubble women in Germany. In this context, it can be illustrated that the horrific impact of the Second World War and its devastating result caused not only a great number of death toll but also damaged the buildings and monuments all over the world. As Germany was in the Axis force henceforth the nation witnessed most of the damages. After the end of the war the destruction and rampage left Germany a worst place to live. In response to this, the rubble women came to the forefront and took the responsibility to develop the country. Moreover, the report also encompasses the definition of the rubble women and their characteristic features so that it will be helpful to get a fundamental idea about the rubble women. In addition to this, it is also important to get a perception about different activities of the rubble women in Germany and their impact on different aspects. Based, on this the report rightly portrays a clear identification of different attributes of the rubble women in Germany and discusses their impact on Germany on the basis of Political, economic, cultural and social dynamics. Therefore, it can be concluded that the report succeeds to establish the importance of the rubble women in the post-war history of Germany and in this context, it can say that the rubble women played a pivotal part to revive Germany from carnage.
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