ACSI 2026 H(E) MS

ACS INDEPENDENT 2026 Y4 HUMANITIES (HISTORY) PRELIM Suggested Answers 1a) Study Sources A and B. Which source is more useful for understanding how Nazi policies affected the lives of German women? Explain your answer. 6m L1 Identifies content which is/is not useful but no reason given/unsupported explanation 1m L2 Answers based on provenance only (limited/weak purpose explanation) Source A is useful because it is a personal recollection from a woman who experienced Nazi policies firsthand. It provides insight into how these policies were implemented and how they affected at least some women's attitudes and ambitions. Source A is limited in usefulness as it represents the experience of one individual and may not reflect the views of all German women. Source B is limited in usefulness as because it is likely propaganda, it may present an idealised picture and does not show how most women actually experienced Nazi policies. 2m L3 Evaluation of usefulness of source/s based on content analysis supported by source evidence. Award 3m for analysis of 1 source and 4m for both. Source A is useful as it provides direct evidence of how Nazi policies affected the lives of German women. Gertrud Draber recalls being taught "house-keeping, being a mother, and being a good wife" at an SS bridal school and states that becoming a mother was her "main ambition." T his shows that Nazi policies influenced women's education, aspirations, and expected roles in society. The source therefore reveals how the regime sought to shape women's lives by preparing them for domestic and maternal responsibilities. Source A may not be fully useful because it reflects the experience of only one woman who willingly embraced Nazi ideals, making it unrepresentative of all German women. Gertrud Draber states that she "wanted to be a perfect housewife" and that her "main aim as a woman" was to fulfil this role, suggesting she accepted the Nazi expectation of women. Furthermore, Draber attended an elite SS bridal school, which trained women selected to marry SS officers and therefore represented a small, ideologically committed group rather than ordinary German women. As a result, the source provides only a limited perspective on the experiences of women under Nazi rule and is not fully useful. Source B is useful because it reflects the Nazi regime's strong emphasis on motherhood. By introducing Frau Mueller as a woman who has given birth to twelve children, the source suggests that large families and motherhood were highly valued under Nazi rule. This provides ev idence that Nazi policies encouraged women to contribute to society through childbearing. 3- 4m

L4 Evaluation of usefulness of source/s based on content analysis, supported with source evidence and valid cross reference. Award 4m for 1 source analysis and 5m for both. OR 4m for 1 purpose analysis only. Source A is useful because it provides first -hand evidence that the Nazi regime trained women primarily for domestic roles. Gertrud Draber recalls that she was taught "house-keeping, being a mother, and being a good wife" and that her "main aim as a woman" was to fulfil these responsibilities. This is supported by contextual knowledge, as Hitler believed that women's primary role was Kinder, Küche, Kirche ("Children, Kitchen, Church"). The SS even established bridal schools to prepare women to become ideal wives and mothers for SS officers, while awards such as the Mother's Cross encouraged women to marry and have large Aryan families. Therefore, the source is useful in showing how Nazi ideology towards women was put into practice. Source A may not be fully useful because it reflects the experience of only one woman who willingly embraced Nazi ideals, making it unrepresentative of all German women. Gertrud Draber states that she "wanted to be a perfect housewife" and that her "main aim as a woman" was to fulfil this role, suggesting she accepted the Nazi expectation of women. However, based on contextual knowledge , not all women shared these views. Many women continued working throughout the 1930s due to economic necessity, and by the late 1930s the Nazi regime increasingly relied on female labour as rearmament created labour shortages. Source B is useful because it reflects the Nazi regime's strong emphasis on motherhood. By introducing Frau Mueller as a woman who has given birth to twelve children, the source suggests that large families and motherhood were highly valued under Nazi rule. This provides ev idence that Nazi policies encouraged women to contribute to society through childbearing. This is supported by contextual knowledge, as Hitler believed women's primary duty was to produce racially "pure" Aryan children. The regime encouraged this through the Mother's Cross, awarded to women with four or more children, and marriage loans introduced in 1933 to encourage childbirth. Source B is less useful because it exaggerates the extent to which Nazi policies reduced women solely to motherhood. The cartoon depicts "Frau Mueller" being introduced because she has "brought 12 children into the world," suggesting that a woman's only value under Nazi rule was producing large numbers of children. However, this presents only part of the picture. Based on contextual knowledge, although Hitler encouraged women to have large Aryan families through incentives such as the Mother's Cross, women were not expected only to bear children. They were also expected to manage the household and raise children according to Nazi ideals, while many remained employed, particularly in agriculture and domestic service. 4- 5m

L5 Evaluation of usefulness of source/s based on purpose (1C 1P/2P). Award 5m only if impact/evidence is lacking. Source A is useful because its purpose was to inform readers/create awareness about the experiences of women under Nazi rule. The interview was conducted by a historian for a book on Nazi women published in 2001, with the audience being readers interested in understanding women's lives in Nazi Germany. Gertrud Draber recalls that she wanted to be "a perfect housewife" and was taught "house-keeping, being a mother, and being a good wife," showing how Nazi ideology shaped women's education and aspirations. The intended impact was to provide readers with an authentic first -hand account of how Nazi policies influenced women's lives. As the interview was conducted for historical research rather than Nazi propaganda, its purpose makes it useful for understanding how women experienced and interpreted Nazi expectations of their role in society. Source B is limited in usefulness because its purpose was to mock /criticise Nazi policies towards women rather than provide an objective account . Source B depicts Frau Mueller, who has given birth to twelve children, appearing physically aged and exhausted despite being publicly introduced for her achievement. This exaggerated portrayal suggests that the policy of encouraging large families placed a heavy burden on women. It was produced in Czechoslovakia in 1935, a democratic country with a free press, for readers who could openly criticise developments in Nazi Germany. The intended impact was to ridicule Nazi ideology and encourage readers to view it as backward and extreme, thereby discouraging support or sympathy for the Nazi regime. Due to this ulterior motive, Source B has a questionable purpose and hence limited in its usefulness / As the cartoon was designed to criticise rather than provide a balanced account of Nazi policies, it exaggerates reality and is ther efore not fully useful as evidence of how women were actually treated under Nazi rule. If only 1 source is analysed in the entire answer, max marks possibly awarded: 4m 5-6m

b) Study Source C. Why did Joseph Goebbels make this speech at that ti