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Working Class Birth Control in Wilhelmine Germany

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2009

R. P. Neuman
Affiliation:
State University of New York, Fredonia

Extract

In his recent study,The Decline of Fertility in Germany, 1871–1939, John Knodel shows that in about two generations the ‘overall fertility declined by 60 percent, marital fertility by 65 percent, and illegitimate fertility by 54 percent.’ Given the facts that a greater percentage of women of child-bearing ages than ever before were married during this period, and that illegitimate births never counted for more than 10 percent of the total births, Knodel concludes that the decline was mainly due to a reduction of marital fertility. This decline became apparent in the 1870s and was already pronounced enough to be a matter of concern for a variety of sociologists, demographers, and physicians in the decades immediately before the First World War. One of the reasons for this contemporary concern sprang from the belief that the secular decline in fertility indicated that birth control, hitherto presumably limited to the effete French and to rather small numbers of German middle class and professional families, was now being practiced with a marked degree of success by large numbers of German working class families. In the minds of many nationalistic demographers, what had been the private vice of the publicly virtuous now threatened to become a mass phenomenon with potentially disastrous results.

Type
The Family in Social Context
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 1978

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References

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21 See Fraenkel, Ludwig, Die Empfängnisverh¨tung, biologische Grundlagen, Technik und Indikationen (Stuttgart, 1932);Google ScholarHimes, Norman, Medical History of Contraception (New York: Schocken Books, 1970, Orig. pub. 1936)Google Scholar; Tietze, Christopher, ‘History of Contraceptive Techniques,’ Journal of Sex Research, 1 (1965), 6985.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

22 Tietze, , ‘Contraceptive Techniques,’ p. 75.Google Scholar

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25 Ferdy, Hans (Pseudonym of A. Meyerhof), Sittliche Selbstbeschränkung (Hildesheim, 1904), pp. 1819.Google Scholar The same author, in Die Mittel zur Verhütung der Conception, 8th ed. (Leipzig, 1907), pp. 6061,Google Scholar reprints the following traditional Austrian folk verses:

Rosmarin und Thymian Guten Tag, Herr Gartnersmann;

Wächst in unseren Garten. Haben Sie Lavendel,

Jungfer Aennchen ist die Braut Rosmarin und Thymian

Kann nicht länger warten. Und ein wenig Quendel?

Rother Wein und weissen Wein; Ja, Madam! Das haben wir

Morgen soil die Hochzeit sein. Draussen in dem Garten.

Rosemary, thyme, lavender, and other garden herbs had long been associated with sexuality and marriage. See Weber-Kellermann, Ingeborg, Die deutsche Familie. Versuch einer Sozialgeschichte (Frankfurt am Main, 1974), pp. 170–72.Google Scholar

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28 Marcuse, , Eheliche Präoentivverkehr, pp. 3132.Google Scholar

29 Gebhardt, , Bäuerlichen Glaubens- und Sittenlehre, pp. 124–25;Google ScholarPolano, , ‘Beitrag zur Frage,’ p. 569.Google Scholar

30 Grotjahn, , Geburten-Rückgang, p. 242.Google Scholar

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32 See, for example, Brubpacher, Fritz, Kindersegen—und kein Ende? (Munich, 1904);Google ScholarFerch, Johann, Liebe und Ehe in der arbeitenden Klasse (Oranienburg, ca. 1914), pp. 7683.Google Scholar

33 Bromme, Moritz, Lebensgeschichte eines modernen Fabrikarbeiters (Jena, 1905), pp. 224–25.Google Scholar

34 Marcuse, , Eheliche Präventivverkehr, # 119, p. 52.Google Scholar On midwives and abortion see Marcuse, , ’Zur Frage,’ pp. 761, 763, 771.Google Scholar

35 Marcuse, , ‘Zur Frage,’ p. 767.Google Scholar

36 Polano, , ‘Beitrag zur Frage,’ p. 572.37Google ScholarMarcuse, , ‘Zur Frage,’ p. 754.Google Scholar

38 Marcuse, , Eheliche Präventivverkehr, #213, p. 80, #134, p. 57.Google Scholar

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44 Hirschberg, , Die soziale Lage, pp. 3334Google Scholar; Berthold, G., ‘Die WohnverhSltnisse in Berlin, insbesondere die der ärmeren Klassen,’ Schriften dem Verein für Sozialpolitik, 31 (1886): 206Google Scholar; Mulert, Oskar, Vierundzwanzig ostpreussische Arbeiter und Arbeiterfamilien (Jena, 1908), p. 124Google Scholar; Chajes, Benno, ‘Die Ehe des Proletaries,’ Sexual-Probleme, 4 (1908): 527Google Scholar; Hofmann, Ernst, ‘Volkskundliche Betrachtungen zur proletarischen Familie in Chemnitz um 1900,’ Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt-Universitat zur Berlin, Ges.-Sprachw. Reihe, 20 (1971): 70.Google Scholar

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47 Marcuse, , ‘Zur Frage,’ pp. 774–75.Google Scholar

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50 Ferdy, Hans, ‘Der Cöcal-Condus als Proletarier-Behelf,’ Sexual-Probleme, 4 (1904): 786.Google Scholar In 1905 a French survey of contraception in rural areas recorded a number of colorful expressions for coitus interruptus also derived from daily life: ‘Battre en grange et vanner à laporte.’ ‘Faire comme le meunier: dècharger sa charette à la porte du moulin.’ See Stengers, J., ‘Les pratiques anticonceptionelles dans le mariage au XIXe et au XXe siècle: problèmes humains et attitudes religieuses,’ Revue Beige de Philologie et d'Histoire, 49 (1971): 480.Google Scholar

51 Bromme, , Lebensgeschichte, p. 225.Google Scholar

52 Marcuse, , ‘Zur Frage,’ p. 768.Google Scholar

53 Ibid., p. 758.

54 See fn. 38.

55 Marcuse, , ‘Zur Frage,’ p. 765.Google Scholar Fear of venereal infection also complicated working class sexual relations. See Levenstein, Adolf, Die Arbeiterfrage (Munich, 1912), p. 244.Google Scholar

56 Rainwater, , And the Poor Get Children, p. 52.Google Scholar

57 Ibid. Also see Eugene Sandberg and Jacobs, R. I., ‘Psychology of the Misuse and Rejection of Contraception,’ American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 110 (1971): 227–42,Google Scholar and Fawcett, J. T. and Bornstein, M. H., ‘Modernization, Individual Morality, and Fertility,’ in Fawcett, James, ed., Psychological Perspectives on Population (NewYork, 1973), pp. 106–31.Google Scholar

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59 Hohorst, G., Kocka, J. and Ritter, G., Sozialgeschichtliches Arbeitsbuch. Materialien zur Statistik des Kaiserreichs 1860–1914 (Munich, 1975), pp. 94124.Google Scholar

60 Freudenthal, August, ‘Die Ursachen des Geburtenrückgangs vor dem Kriege,’ Neue Zeit, 33 (1917): 454–55.Google Scholar

61 Beshers, James, Population Processes in Social Systems (New York, 1967), pp. 8588.Google Scholar

62 Ibid., p. 86.

63 Marcuse, , Eheliche Präventivverkehr, #241, p. 89.Google Scholar

64 Ibid., #34, p. 27. Also #70, pp. 37–38.

65 Ibid., #38, p. 28.

66 Ibid., #81, p. 41.

67 Ibid., #288, p. 102. Also #148, p. 61, and #298, p. 105.

68 Polano, , ‘Beitrag zur Frage,’ pp. 576–77.Google Scholar Among the women birth controllers interviewed by Polano, some of the reasons for birth control were ‘social circumstances—high prices, low pay, unemployment’ (45 percent); ‘fear of birth, weakness and illness’ (28 percent); ‘desire to space births’ (7 percent); ‘miscellaneous’ (1.5 percent).

69 Marcuse, , Eheliche Präventivverkehr, #28, p. 25.Google Scholar Railroad worker age 27, Mecklenburg, married four years, one living child, uses coitus interruptus (hereafter cited CI) plus douche.

70 Ibid., #274, p. 98. Factory worker, age 27, Westphalia, married four years, one living child, two dead children, CI and douche.

71 Ibid., #54, p. 33. Painter's helper, age 24, SW Germany, married five years, three living children, one stillbirth, CI, sponge, douche, condom.

72 Ibid., #95, p. 45. Mason, age 25, Hesse, married one year after six years' premarital intercourse with present wife, one living child, CI.

73 Ibid., #108, p. 49. Harbor worker, age 27, Hansa town, married four years, 1 living child, one miscarriage, CI, sometimes condom.

74 Ibid., #154, p. 63.

75 Ibid., #18, p. 22, CI and diaphragm for past year.

76 Gebhardt, , Zur bäuerlichen Glaubens-und-Sittenlehre, p. 124.Google Scholar

77 Marcuse, , Eheliche Präventivverkehr, #31, p. 26.Google Scholar Waiter, age 37, Hansa city, married eleven years, CI. In Chemnitz around 1900, 80 percent of working class families had fewer than five children. Hofmann, , ‘Volkskundliche Betrachtungen,’ p. 77.Google Scholar For more about large families going out of fashion among workers see A.B. in Charlottenburg, ‘Zur Frage des Geburtenrückgangs. Eine Selbsbiographie,’ Soziale Kultur, 36 (1916): 681–97.Google Scholar

78 Marcuse, , Eheliche Präventivverkehr, #36, pp. 2728.Google Scholar Mechanic, age 32, Hesse, married eight years. Also see #207, pp. 78–79.

79 Ibid., #139, p. 58.

80 Ibid., #119, p. 52. Driver, age 38, Westphalia, married 17 years, 3 living children, two dead, two abortions, CI or nothing.

81 Ibid., #85, p. 42. Mechanic, age 39, Saxony, married 15 years, CI and douche.

82 Ibid., #9, pp. 19–20. Lathe operator, age 33, Hansa City, one living child, 1 abortion, CI, douche, later diaphragm.

83 Ibid., #40, p. 29. Wagon builder, age 25, Berlin, married 1½ years, condom.

84 Ibid., #22, p. 23. Mechanic, age 27, Prussia, married five years, no children, contraceptive techniques: ‘plenty of ways.’

85 Ibid., #299, p. 105. Master painter, age 40, Berlin, married nine years, one child, vaginal suppositories.

86 Ibid., #251, pp. 91–92. Carpet-maker, age 30, Berlin, married six months, l½ years premarital intercourse with wife, no children, CI, douche.

87 Ibid., #64, p. 36. Master mechanic, age 32, Berlin, married five years, one child, wife uses unknown contraceptive technique.

88 Ibid., #100, p. 46. Stucco worker, age 29, Berlin, married one year, no children, no contraception.

89 Ibid., #115, p. 51. Wagon builder, age 37, Berlin, married twelve years, two children, condom, tampon.

90 Ibid., #223, p. 83. Warehouse foreman, age 32, Berlin, married four years, no children, CI.

91 Ibid., #60, pp. 34–35. Shoemaker, age 26, Brandenburg, married two years, no children, CI.

92 Ibid., # 175, p. 69. Mechanic, age 29, Berlin, married two years, two children, oldest born before marriage, condom. These examples support the thesis ‘the greater the individualism, the less the familism.’ Scanzoni, John, Sex Roles, Life Styles and Childbearing (New York, 1975), p. 187.Google Scholar

93 A 69-year-old Prussian working class woman interpreted the difference between rich and poor in terms of family size. ‘The reason the rich have grounds for being arrogant and the poor have to spread their butter thin is because the rich have few, the poor many children.’ Moszeik, C., ed., Aus der Gedankenwelt einer Arbeiterfrau. Von ihr selbst erzählt (Berlin, 1909), p. 2.Google Scholar

94 Linse, , ‘Arbeiterschaft und Geburtenentwicklung,’ p. 249,Google Scholar suggests that the SPD regarded birth control as a ‘private matter’ to be decided by the individual worker, but I think that the party leadership was often not only indifferent to the matter, but actually hostile to birth control, and thus hindered the spread of more dependable contraceptive practices among their constituents. Neuman, , ‘The Sexual Question,’ pp. 271–86.Google Scholar

95 Wettstein-Adelt, Minna, 3 1/2 Monate Fabrikarbeitetin (Berlin, 1893), pp. 4546, 7172.Google Scholar

96 In his studies of working class sexual attitudes in America during the 1950s and 1960s Rainwater found a high degree of role splitting between working class husbands and wives that extended to their sexual relations, reducing the latter to ungratifying ‘functions’ among the majority interviewed. The studies described in Schmidt, Gunter and Sigusch, Volkmar, ‘Lower-Class Sexuality: Some Emotional and Social Aspects of West German Males and Females,’ Archives of Sexual Behavior, 1 (1971), 2944,Google Scholar indicate that unlike Rainwater's subjects, young German workers do not de-emotionalize sexual relations, but rather see them as mutual gratifying sources of pleasure. However, the two studies are not contradictory. Rainwater's study was based on married couples, aged 30 or older, drawn from a class of unskilled, often unemployed workers. Sigusch and Schmidt studied mainly unmarried, regularly employed workers aged 21 or younger. They speculate that if a slightly older group of less well-off German workers were studied, the same role-splitting and sex-negativism Rainwater describes might also be found in West Germany. See Schmidt, Gunter and Sigusch, Volkmar, Arbeiter-Sexualität. Eine empirische Untersuchung an jungen Industriearbeitern (Neuwied-Berlin, 1971), pp. 133–38.Google Scholar

97 Marcuse, , ‘Zur Frage,’ p. 773.Google Scholar