Eva Braun

Eva Anna Paula Braun was born in Munich, Bavaria, Germany in 1912. After completing her studies, she worked as a receptionist at a medical office, and then in 1929 worked as an office assistant and model for photographer Heinrich Hoffmann, who was the official photographer of the Nazi Party. Through Hoffmann, she met Adolf Hitler in Oct 1929. They began seeing each other romantically around 1931. Although the two took liking to each other, Hitler courted other women at the same time, some of whom were driven to suicide. Braun, too, resorted to such measures twice, with the first on 1 Nov 1932 and again on 28 May 1935. After the second suicide attempt, Hitler seemed to have become more committed to her, providing her with a mansion in Munich, a Mercedes sedan, a chauffeur, and a maid. On 30 Jan 1933, when Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany, she sat in the VIP section as his secretary. By 1936, she was living with Hitler at Berghof near Berchtesgaden in southern Germany, and two years later, in 1938, Hitler named her his primary heir. Nevertheless, Hitler and Braun never appeared in public as a couple, and the German people would not learn of their relationship until after the war. Although close to Hitler, she was not allowed to be near any conversations between Hitler and government and military officials, although she did often act in the capacity of a hostess at dinner parties with Hitler's inner circle. Her relationship with him was strained by his lack of time and energy for her, particularly after 1943, and over time had picked up drinking and smoking as an outlet, which displeased Hitler. In mid-1944, Braun began appearing in public with Hitler, but those engagements were limited especially as Hitler became more reclusive after the failed July Plot assassination attempt. In early Apr 1945, as Soviet troops neared Berlin, Germany, Braun traveled to Berlin to be with Hitler. Underground at the Führerbunker below the Reich Chancellery, she refused repeated attempts by various people to take her to a safer location. In the morning of 29 Apr, Braun, in a dark silk dress, married Hitler in a small civil ceremony in the bunker with Joseph Goebbels and Martin Bormann acting as witnesses. At about 1300 hours on 30 Apr, together with her new husband, she bid farewell to the others at the bunker. At about 1530 hours, she committed suicide by ingesting cyanide while Hitler also killed himself. Their bodies were burned in the garden of the Reich Chancellery. Their charred remains were found by the Soviets, who secretly buried them in Magdeburg, East Germany. In Apr 1970, the remains were exhumed, cremated, and dispersed into the Elbe River.

Women of World War II memorial

As it is difficult to find information about women in the world wars in our century, we have chosen
to write about a monument that conmemorates the role of women in war:
It is a british national war memorial situated in London In centre of street between Cabinet Office and Ministry of Defence. The memorial was unveiled on 9 July 2005, two days after the 7/7 London bombings, by Queen Elizabeth II as part of the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
It is made in bronze, with seventeen uniforms who represent the services of women in the war like the nurses. It also has some inscriptions. The proyect to do the memorial had started before but it was neccesary to raise funds. Originally planned to be next to statues of WW2 Field Marshals on south side of Whitehall. The statue of Sir Francis Drake was removed to make room and relocated to Greenwich.

Rosie the Riveter

While women worked in a variety of positions previously closed to them during World War II, the aviation industry saw the greatest increase in female workers. More than 310,000 women worked in the U.S. aircraft industry in 1943, making up 65 percent of the industry’s total workforce (compared to just 1 percent in the pre-war years). The munitions industry also heavily recruited women workers, as illustrated by the U.S. government’s “Rosie the Riveter” propaganda campaign. Based in small part on a real-life munitions worker, but primarily a fictitious character, the strong, bandanna-clad Rosie became one of the most successful recruitment tools in American history, and the most iconic image of working women in the World War II era.

In the Service of Men - Women in World War One I THE GREAT WAR

AgnesSmedley (1892-1950)

Borned in Missouri in 1892, Agnes Smedley was the first of five children of a poor family. When she was 10 her father, Charles Smedley decided to move to Colorado searching for prosperity but they just found more poverty. There, she started studying while Charles was working in one of the many oil companies property of Rockefeller’s family, Fuel & Iron Co.

After the abandonment of family by her father in 1903 Agnes had to begin working and study at the same time. In spite of the difficult it means, her young age and her limited academic training she got pass the Teaching Exam in Terico, New Mexico. She accepted the teaching position in New Mexico that led her to desire further education. Because of her responsibility of taking care of her brothers, she took the decision to move to Temple, Arizona. From 1911 to 1912 she attended the Temple Normal School as a special student. Apart from this, Agnes began her career as a journalist, cooperating in the same center. There, she met and married Ernest Brudin and moved to California where she explored socialist theories which influenced her political direction and her social conscience. But six years after the marriage she divorced and moved to New York City.

In New York City she worked for Margaret Sanger on the Birth Control Review and became involved with the movement to support India's independence from Britain. Smedley was relocated to Berlin and there she met Virendranath Chattopadhyaya (Chatto) and lived with the revolutionary leader for eight years studying Indian history and Chinese nationalism. The German republican government took the clinics over and established several others which flourished until the Nazis came to power and women were 'ordered back to the bedroom'. With Hitler threatening, Viren left Germany for the Academy of Sciences in Leningrad, and Agnes obtained a position with the Frankfurter Zeitung in 1928 as a special correspondent in China.These were tumultuous years with serious breakdowns both personally and politically. After psychoanalyses and the completion of her autobiography she broke away from Chatto and the Indian cause. She moved to Shanghai in 1929.
For years she chronicled the Chinese revolution as a war correspondent for Germany, Britain and later the United States. She told the story of the peasants, the Red army and the oppressed of China to the world. In October of 1937 she joined the Eighth Route Army in the field. As it became increasingly dangerous, she left the field in 1937 to organize medical supplies and continue writing. From November 1938 to April 1941 she visited resistance units under both the Communist and Guomindang leaders in the war zone, the longest tour of the Chinese war by any foreign correspondent, man or woman.

Convinced she could support the Far East in Washington D.C. she returned to the United States. Smedley remained an advocate of China, writing several books about China's revolution. She lived at a writer's colony in New York State known as "Yaddo" through the middle forties. She was a regular contributor to The Saratogian and wrote feature articles for The New Masses, The Nation and The New Republic. In 1947 during the McCarthy era she was accused of espionage and moved to England during the investigation. Although she longed to return to China, it was a year after her death before she was accorded her last wish: 'As my heart and spirit have found no rest in any other land on earth except China, I wish my ashes to lie with the Chinese Revolutionary dead.' She was buried in Beijing in 1950.

Over the years Agnes Smedley had friends and associates who supported a wide range of causes. Margaret Sanger, Emma Goldman, Roger Baldwin, Ladip at Rai, Kathe Kollowitz, Lu Xun, Nehru, Richard Sorge, Soon Qingling, and Chou En-Lai are some of the people who influenced Smedley's life. Influenced by her impoverished childhood Agnes Smedley was an advocate for women, children, peasants and liberation for the oppressed.

http://www.sacu.org/smedley.html

http://www.lasegundaguerra.com/viewtopic.php?t=3868

http://www.exordio.com/1939-1945/civilis/mujeres/agnes_smedley.html

https://www.asu.edu/lib/archives/smedley.htm

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) was an American politician, diplomat, activist and a First Lady who became one of the most loved women of her generation.She had an unhappy childhood, suffering the deaths of both parents and one of her brothers at a young age. She attended a school in England and developed self-confidence. In 1995 she married Franklin Delano Roosevelt and she had six children.

In Albany, where Franklin served in the state Senate from 1910 to 1913, Eleanor started her long career as political helpmate. She gained knowledge of Washington and its ways while he served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. She became active in the women's division of the State Democratic Committee to keep his interest in politics alive. From his successful campaign for governor in 1928 to the day of his death, she dedicated her life to his purposes.

Roosevelt was a controversial First Lady for her outspokenness, particularly her stance on racial issues. She understood social conditions better than any of her predecessors and she transformed the role of First Lady because she did press conferences and travelled all over the country. She had an important role during the Second World War visiting head of states and supporting the troops. 

Years later, Eleanor served as a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly. She also became chair of the UN's Human Rights Commission. As a member of the Human Rights Commission, she helped to write the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 
https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/first-ladies/eleanorroosevelt

Jeannette Rankin (June 11, 1880 – May 18, 1973)

The role of Jeannette Rankin in the history of America has been greatly overseen. She became the first woman to hold a high government office in the United States when, in 1916, she was elected to the United States Congress from the state of Montana. After winning her House seat, she said, “I may be the first woman member of Congress but I won’t be the last”.

Politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives and social activist Jeannette Rankin was born on June 11, 1880, near Missoula, Montana. Jeannette Rankin made history as the first woman to serve in the U.S. Congress. One of seven children, she was the daughter of a rancher and a schoolteacher. After earning a degree in biology in 1902, Rankin followed in her mother's footsteps briefly, working as a teacher. Jeanette Rankin tried several more careers, including seamstress and social worker.

Jeannette had a lifelong pacifist; she thought that women should have a bigger role than what other people thought women should have. Women would have strikes and go on marches to prove that they should have rights just like everyone else. She faced discrimination like and other race that faced it. Women would voice their opinion in any way possible so that they could reach their goal and they did.

Rankin’s two terms in Congress coincided with U.S. entry into both World Wars. An ardent pacifist, Rankin voted against the United States entering World War I. The war resolution measure was passed by Congress 374 to 50. During the war, she fought for the rights of women working in the war effort. Rankin also created women's rights legislation and helped pass the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Congress, granting women the right to vote.

Jeannette Rankin made a return to politics in 1939. Running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, she won the election in part based on her antiwar position. Even the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, could not dissuade Rankin from her pacifist stance and she voted against entering the war. By this time, much of the public's antiwar sentiment had given way to anger and outrage over the attack on U.S. soil. This time, the war resolution passed 388 votes –1. Her no vote was cast amid “a chorus of hisses and boos.”

Rankin was a leader and helped women fight for her rights. She is known as one of the greatest women of the 20th century for her actions as a humanitarian and civic leader. Thanks her, things are a bit easier on the working woman today.

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Jeannette_Rankin.aspx

 http://history.house.gov/People/Listing/R/RANKIN,-Jeannette-%28R000055%29/

http://www.biography.com/people/jeannette-rankin-9451806