Leseprobe

A so-called Transparent Woman, or more precisely a Transparent Pregnant Woman, was presented to the public for the first time in July 1934. 7 She was part of the travelling exhibition “Healthy Woman – Healthy People ( Volk )”, which was at this time being shown in a sports hall in Erfurt. 8 This travelling exhibition was developed by the doctor and department head of the International Health Service of the mu- seum, Marta Fraenkel (1896–1976), as well as by the doctor and at that time scientific staff member, Rudolf Neubert (1898–1992) – initi- ally still without a Transparent Woman. The exhibition was presented for the first time in March 1932 in Dresden. 9 The exhibition panels were characterised by image-text arrangements in a montage tech- nique and were in individual cases combined with three-dimensional objects like preserved specimens, moulages or models, which had already been represented in earlier exhibitions of the DHMD. 10 In terms of content, the focus was on the conveying of fundamental anatomical and physiological knowledge of the “special features” 11 of the female body, as well as on the optimisation of female work in the household and family. The goal was to reinforce the health of the female population through the conveying of knowledge (of the body). Practical information on pregnancy, birth and the care of infants, as well as warnings against declines in the birth rate and illegal abortions provided one area of focus of the travelling exhibition, in keeping with the decisive demographic policy discourse of the first half of the 20th century. 12 At the same time, however, the emphasis on the multiple female burdens in the family, household and career was also linked with increased appreciation of women’s work, which was stylised with nationalistic pathos as a “struggle” for the preservation of Volk and nation against the background of the global financial crisis. 13 Following the seizure of power of the National Socialists in 1933, the “Healthy Woman – Healthy People ( Volk )” travelling exhibition was revised and was supplemented with an entire exhibition group on the thematic area of “population policy and racial hygiene”. 14 Genetics and antinatalist measures of the National Socialist state now as- sumed a great deal of prominence. To this purpose, new exhibition material from a variety of sources was resorted to: Large-format, il- lustrated population pyramids that had already been presented in 1933 in the Reich’s Exhibition “The Woman” in Berlin visualised the decline in birth rates and the anticipated superannuation of the Ger- man Volk (Fig. 12) – probably with reference to the theses of the de- mographer Friedrich Burgdörfer (1890–1967), who had been involved in the Berlin Reich’s Exhibition. 15 Graphic learning aids from the “teaching collection on heredity, Rassenpflege (race care), Rassen- kunde (study of race)” were used, which the DHMD began to sell as educational material after 1933. The series encompassed a total of twelve graphic learning aids with titles like “The inferior are multiply- ing more quickly than the healthy” or “The races of the German Volk ”. 16 These graphic learning aids were combined with allegedly documentary, yet deliberately manufactured photo series, which the Berlin Nazi Party Office for Enlightenment on Population Policy and Racial Welfare 17 had compiled in 1933. 18 Photographs of (young) pa- FIRST PRESENTATION IN THE TRAVELLING EXHIBITION “HEALTHY WOMAN – HEALTHY PEOPLE ( VOLK )” 42