Original Item: Only One Available. This is a striking large format German WWII propaganda and recruitment poster produced for the Deutsches Frauenwerk (DFW), the mass women's organization created in October 1933 as part of the National Socialist reorganization of German women's associations. Dominated by a deep black background, bold Tannenberg style lettering and the large Deutsches Frauenwerk membership insignia, the poster calls upon German women to participate in the organization. At approximately 33 x 46 ½”, this is an imposing piece of original German political ephemera with considerable visual presence.

The Deutsches Frauenwerk was established in October 1933 during the coordination and consolidation of existing German women's organizations under the National Socialist state. It became a collecting organization for members of many former bourgeois, conservative, nationalist, religious and charitable women's associations of the Weimar period. These included organizations such as the Bund Königin Luise, Evangelisches Frauenwerk, the German Red Cross sisterhoods and the Reich League of German Housewives. Although formally organized separately from the NSDAP, the DFW was closely connected with the NS-Frauenschaft, the women's organization of the NSDAP, and the leadership structures of the two organizations became closely intertwined. Approximately 1.7 million women were organized in the Deutsches Frauenwerk, while approximately 2.3 million belonged to the NS-Frauenschaft.

The Deutsches Frauenwerk served as an important means of bringing a much broader section of the female population into organizations controlled or supervised by the National Socialist state. Its activities included practical training and programs for women and mothers, while the NS-Frauenschaft played a more directly ideological and party organizational role. The close relationship between the two organizations is reflected directly on this poster, which advertises membership in the Deutsches Frauenwerk while directing prospective members to local branches of the NS-Frauenschaft for registration and admission information.

The poster depicts the Deutsches Frauenwerk membership badge insignia under the phrase in Tannenberg typeface:

Hilf
mit im
deutschen
frauenwerk

Help out
in the
German
Women's Organization

To the left of the insignia reads HESSE / KӦLN. Along the bottom of the poster is the text Anmeldungen u. Aufnahmebedingungen bei den Orstgruppen der NS. Frauenschaft, or Registration and admission requirements for local branches of the NS-Frauenschaft.

The poster is in fair overall condition with a large tear through the top center in between the l and f in Hilf. There is scattered nicking along the top edges and some along the bottom edge. The black background is very well-retained and the paper is somewhat thick to the touch because of it.

Large original recruiting posters for the Deutsches Frauenwerk provide a particularly direct illustration of how National Socialist organizations sought to incorporate German women into the political and social structures of the Third Reich. This example retains its bold black field, prominent DFW insignia, unusually large recruiting text and the important NS-Frauenschaft registration line at the bottom. Even with the substantial upper tear and edge wear, its scale and graphic design give it considerable display impact. It would make a significant addition to a collection devoted to German WWII propaganda, women's organizations of the Third Reich, political posters, homefront material, or the social organizations of wartime Germany.