Claudia Ann Koonz is a American feminist historian of Nazi Germany. Her principle area of interest is the experience of women during the Nazi era. Feminism is a social theory and political movement primarily informed and motivated by the experience of women. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ...

Koonz first came to fame in 1969 with a dissertation on Walther Rathenau. She was awarded a PhD from Rutgers University in 1970. She has taught at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massaschusetts and at Duke University. Jump to: navigation, search 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ... Jump to: navigation, search Walter Rathenau Walther Rathenau (September 29, 1867–June 24, 1922) was a German industrialist and politician who served as Foreign Minister of Germany. ... Jump to: navigation, search Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is the largest institution for higher education in the U.S. state of New Jersey. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Jump to: navigation, search Duke Chapel Duke University is a private, coeducational university located in Durham, North Carolina, USA. Although founded only in 1924, Duke traces its roots back to 1838. ...

Koonz is best known for documenting the appeal of Nazism to German women, and that German women played a enthurstic role in supporting the Nazi regime. Moreover, Koonz has established that the leaders of German feminst groups were happy to go along with Gleichschaltung. Koonz has noted that female supporters of the Nazis accepted the Nazi division of the sexes into a public sphere for men and a private sphere for women. Koonz has claimed that women involved in resistance activities were more likely to escape notice owing to the masculintiy-centered values of the Third Reich. Another notable claim made by Koonz is that women who most successfully asserted themselves in the Third Reich were also the women who violated the norms of civilized society such as Ilse Koch. Koonz maitains that only women who were opposed to Nazism 100% can be considered to be a resistence; those women who protested against sterilization and the T-4 Euthanasia Program, but who did not protest the deportation of Jews to death camps are not considered by Koonz to be part of the resistence. Koonz's views have often her pitted against Gisela Bock in battle some have referred to as the Historikerinnenstreit (Women Historians' Dispute). Jump to: navigation, search The German word Gleichschaltung listen ( ♫) (literally synchronising, synchronization) is used in a political sense to describe the process by which the Nazi regime successively established a system of totalitarian control over the individual, and tight coordination over all aspects of society and commerce. ... Ilse Koch, née Kohler (September 22, 1906 - September 1, 1967), was the wife of Karl Koch, the commandant of the concentration camp Buchenwald. ... Sterilization can mean: Sterilization (surgical procedure) - an operation which renders an animal or human unable to procreate Sterilization (microbiology) - the elimination of microbiological organisms It can also mean the death of sperm cells due to radiation. ... Jump to: navigation, search This poster reads: This person suffering from hereditary defects costs the community of the people 60,000 Reichsmark during his lifetime. ...

Work

• co-written with Renate Bridenthal "Beyond Kinder, Küche, Kirche: Weimar Women in Politics and Work" from Liberating Women's History: Theoretical and Critical Essays edited by Berenice Carroll, 1976.
• "Conflicting Allegiances: Political Ideology and Women Legislators in Weimar Germany" pages 663-683 from Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Volume 1, 1976.
• co-edited with Renate Bidenthal Becoming Visible: Women in European History, 1977, revised edition 1987.
• Mothers in the Fatherland: Women, the Family, and Nazi Politics, 1986.
• "Ethical Dilemmas and Nazi Eugenics: Single-Issue Dissent in Religious Contexts" pages S8-S31 from Journal of Modern History, Volume 64, 1992.

Reference

• Gordon, Linda "Review of Mothers in the Fatherland" pages 97-105 from Feminist Review, Volume 27, 1987.