Women officers of the Wehrmacht or SS?

Discussions on the role played by and situation of women in the Third Reich not covered in the other sections. Hosted by Vikki.
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Bengt Baron
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Women officers of the Wehrmacht or SS?

#1

Post by Bengt Baron » 11 Mar 2008, 06:31

Quick question: Were there ever any women officers in the Wehrmacht or W-SS?

From what I can find women where at the most aufseherin (is this a rank?), but was it possible to become officers - were they even allowed?

This can seem very essential, but I haven't found any info on this matter.
Last edited by Bengt Baron on 11 Mar 2008, 15:41, edited 1 time in total.

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Dieter Zinke
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Re: Women officers of the Wehrmacht or SS?

#2

Post by Dieter Zinke » 11 Mar 2008, 10:44

Bengt Baron wrote:Quick question: Were there ever any women officers in the Wehrmacht or W-SS?
Quite honestly: NO and NEVER !!

Dieter Z.


Bengt Baron
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Re: Women officers of the Wehrmacht or SS?

#3

Post by Bengt Baron » 11 Mar 2008, 15:41

Dieter Zinke wrote:
Bengt Baron wrote:Quick question: Were there ever any women officers in the Wehrmacht or W-SS?
Quite honestly: NO and NEVER !!

Dieter Z.

Nice of you to set it straight.
LOL

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Vikki
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Re: Women officers of the Wehrmacht or SS?

#4

Post by Vikki » 12 Mar 2008, 04:19

Hello Bengt Baron,

If by women officers in the Wehrmacht or Waffen-SS you mean women in the chain of command within these organizations, commanding men: No. Female auxiliaries were organized separately; for example, those assisting the Luftwaffe fell under the Luftnachrichten Helferinnenschaft (Corps of Female Signals Auxiliaries). They also had separate rank structures, including ranks which were roughly equivalent to those of male officers and held officers' status. But any command associated with these ranks appears to have applied only within the separate female command structures.

Best,
~Vikki

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Ripli
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Re: Women officers of the Wehrmacht or SS?

#5

Post by Ripli » 15 Dec 2008, 22:33

Bengt Baron wrote:
Dieter Zinke wrote:
Bengt Baron wrote:Quick question: Were there ever any women officers in the Wehrmacht or W-SS?
Quite honestly: NO and NEVER !!

Dieter Z.

Nice of you to set it straight.
LOL
When he is older he'll see that women are very useful in SOME areas of leadership as they were in the Third Reich.

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Heimatschuss
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Re: Women officers of the Wehrmacht or SS?

#6

Post by Heimatschuss » 04 Jan 2009, 17:50

Dear Dieter,
Dieter Zinke wrote:
Bengt Baron wrote:Quick question: Were there ever any women officers in the Wehrmacht or W-SS?
Quite honestly: NO and NEVER !!

Dieter Z.
until last week I would have fully concurred with you on this matter. But after reading an essay by Babette Quinkert (2007) there seems to have been one notable exception: Maria de Smeth was appointed to Captain (Hauptmann) and CO of a female propaganda company (Weibliche Propaganda-Einsatz-Kompanie) belonging the ROA (Russian Liberation Army) in early 1945.

Here's a CV of Maria de Smeth according to Quinkert (2007):

1903
Born as Maria Franziska Klein in Schrobenhausen (Upper Bavaria). Her father is an inn keeper and forrester.

XXXX
After finishing school she completes training as a x-ray assistant in a hospital in Munich.

1923
Marriage to Raymond de Smeth, a Dutch doctor of law. She thereby obtains Dutch nationality.

1927
Divorce after her husband developed schizophrenia.

1928 - 1930
Unsuccessful attempts to start careers in x-ray medicine, as a cinema technician and as a photographer.

1930
Joins NSNAP (Nationaal-Socialistische Nederlandse Arbeiders Parti; Dutch NSDAP clone).

1930
Starts working as a journalist in Vienna with some success.

1932
Hired by the New York Times for photo features about fishing on the Danube and in Roumania. De Smeth departs from Vienna by boat in June 1932 and is arrested by Soviet authorities off the coast of Crimea in August 1932. Accused of espionage for the UK and Roumania. She spends the rest of the year in Soviet prisons.

January 1933
De Smeth is released and returns to Germany.

1933
She publishes a book about her time in Soviet captivity.

May 1933
De Smeth applies for a job at the NSDAP Reichspropagandaleitung (NSDAP's central propaganda office) and is hired. She starts giving speeches about her experiences in the Soviet Union at NSDAP meetings all over Germany.

October 1933
Joins DAF (Deutsche Arbeitsfront)

November 1933
De Smeth starts working as an orator at DAF conventions also.

April 1934
Becomes a donating member of the SS (Förderndes Mitglied der SS).

August 1934
She starts teaching courses for future BDM leaders in Saxony.

November 1936 - May 1937
Travels in Franco-controlled Spain on behalf of the Anti-Komintern.

1937
De Smeth joins NSDAP.

1939/1940
Works as an agitator in the camps of German settlers in occupied Poland.

since 1940
De Smeth also works as an agitator in Alsace.

summer 1941 - 1943
She is employed in the KdF's Truppenbetreuung scheme to give speeches for German troops.
According to NSDAP statistics from 1943 de Smeth had given about 3.000 speeches on behalf of the NSDAP in the time 1933 - 1943.

early 1943 - August 1943
De Smeth becomes platoon leader in Propagandakompanie 689 in Roslawl commanding ten native female agitators doing loudspeaker propaganda. She's classified as Stabshelferin (staff auxiliary).

September 1943 - early summer 1944
De Smeth works in Propagandaabteilung Ostland / Staffel Pleskau (propaganda department Ostland / squadron Pskov).

early summer 1944
She becomes head of Weibliche Propaganda-Einsatz-Kompanie (female propaganda company) of SS-Standarte 'Kurt Eggers' which comprises about 150 women and some men. De Smeth is now classified as a Sonderführer (K) (means: specialist equaling officer rank, unit commander), receives a regular forces paybook (Soldbuch) and is even entiteld to carry a weapon.

January 1945
De Smeth still works as an agitator herself and participates in the training of NSFOs (Nationalsozialistischer Führungsoffozier; NS equivalent to Soviet commissars) in Lyck (East Prussia).

January/February 1945
She and her company are to move from Königsberg (East Prussia) to the ROA propaganda centre (Ost-Propagandaabteilung z.b.V.) in Dabendorf near Berlin. Because Soviet forces have already cut off East Prussia from the Reich they are shipped across the Baltic Sea.

February 1945
Her company is transferred to the ROA (Russian Liberation Army). De Smeth is officially appointed to Hauptmann und Kompaniechef (Captain and company CO).

spring 1945
The ROA propaganda centre including de Smeth's company is transferred to Gießhübel castle in Western Bohemia.

April 1945
New unit commander Oberländer (later a minister in the Bonn government) orders de Smeth to move into the Alps. Instead she goes to Munich and stays with her mother. When Munich is captured by US forces de Smeth goes underground immediately and remains in hiding for considerable time fearing extradition to the Soviet Union.

post-war
After reappearing on the scene de Smeth makes a living as an author of various children's books.

1965
Her autobiography 'Roter Kaviar - Hauptmann Maria. Odysse einer Frau im 20. Jahrhundert' appears.

May 31st, 1976
De Smeth dies near Munich.

Definitely a total exception. Even for a zealot like de Smeth it took the combination of two exoctic areas (propaganda and affiliated forces) plus the chaos of the last months of the war to be appointed to officer's rank.

Has anyone read the autobiography or does have a picture of her?

References:
Quinkert, B. (2007): Propagandistin gegen den 'jüdischen Bolschewismus'. Maria de Smeths Reisebericht aus Spanien 1936/37. In:
Steinbacher, S. (Ed.); Volksgenossinnen. Frauen in der NS-Volksgemeinschaft.; Beiträge zur Geschichte des Nationalsozialismus Vol.23; Wallstein Verlag; Göttingen; 2007; pp.173-186


Best regards
Torsten

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