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This is a very rare original Third Reich publication that came from the Nazi archives of the Reichsstatthalter (Baldur von Schirach, Leader of the Hitler Youth and the highest Nazi government authority in Gau Wien) in Vienna, the second largest city in Hitler's Greater Germany. Be sure to note the Police file information at the top right of the front cover and the round rubber stamp of the Reichsstatthalter on the title page.

This 5-¾ x 8-¼ inch, 40 page limited circulation government publication dated 17 May 1942 was a special supplement to the Reichsarbeitsblatt 1942, Nr. 12 carefully explaining the Gesetz zum Schutze der erwerbstätigen Mutter (Mutterschutzgesetz) or the Law to Protect Employed Mothers (Mother Protection Law). The reason for the Mutterschutzgesetz and its regulations is explained and annotated by F.H. Schmidt, a high-level government official in the Nazi Labor Ministry (Oberregierungsrat im Reichsarbeitsministerium). The law would go into effect on 1 July 1942 in Greater Germany, including the Ostgebieten or German occupied territories in the East. It had to be the most comprehensive law in the world by far for the protection of working mothers. European law on the subject in force today traces its origins to this basic Nazi German law.

The book starts with the explanation that the biggest achievement of any German woman is to have healthy children for the sake of the German Nation. All German women need protection, but working mothers need additional safeguarding - hence the Mutterschutzgesetz update. Ethnic German (Volksdeutsche) mothers from recently occupied German territories in the East who passed the strict background testing by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler and the Sicherheitsdienst der SS (SD or Security Service) were to be covered by the Mutterschutzgesetz, Jewish mothers were NOT (see photo right).

The Mutterschutzgesetz protected working mothers (in business circumstances, but also wives of farmers, street vendors, women with home industries, etc.) and chapters covered categories of jobs that pregnant women and new mothers were not allowed to do, working nights and holidaysand while nursing babies, Kindergeld (child subsidies), as well as rules and regulations about firing pregnant women or new mothers, pregnancy notification, the historical background of the Mutterschutzgesetz, the area where the law applies, and additional legal details. The last three pages show the law in table form, an overview for easier understanding.

Paperclipped inside the back cover is a 22 July 1942 note from the Vienna Police stating that all female employees in Referate I were required to read this booklet. Rare and in very nice condition - exactly as shown.