aged from wearing make-up, smoking or buying expensive clothes. They were expected to allow their hair to grow and put in plaits or a bun. Physical fitness for all, both girls and boys was encouraged. Women were expected to have at least four children. If they did they were given a medal every year on the birthday of Hitler's mother. This was called the "Mutterkreuz", the Mother's Cross.” (Scott, 19) Boys were educated differently. They studied science and mathematics and took part in a great deal of physical exercise. All children had to join Nazi youth organisations by 1939. The Nazis realised that it was very important for them to win over children. They joined at the age of five and stayed until eighteen. Boys joined the Pimpfen, then the German Youth and then the Hitler Youth. Girls joined the League of German Maidens. Girls found that they had little time for homework. This was to prevent them having a career. It also meant that children had little spare time to pick up ideas that the Nazis did not approve of. Children were used to control their parents by being encouraged to report what they did and said. Hitler realized that older people would be less enthusiastic about his ideas, so he made every effort to win the minds of the next generation. Men were forced to go into the Labor Service at the age of eighteen. This lasted for six months and was one of the methods that the Nazis used to cut unemployment In the Labor Service men worked building roads, digging ditches and reclaiming land. While the government of Britain were doing all in their power to save their land and the people who lived in it, German government made all in their power to influence the citizens with Nazi ideas. In both home fronts the only similarity was that women and children were the ones who suffered the most, and fathers went to the battle. In all other aspects these two country’s home fronts were totally different, one trying to get all t...
