The War Auxiliaries of the “Armed Nation” (1942-1945)

Abstract

This article analyses the creation of militarized auxiliary war groups, composed by women, who worked in the cities of Santos, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in the period of 1942-1945. Using news papers, photographs and oral sources I discuss the place of war auxiliaries within the politics of the Armed Nation. Excluded from the official History of the Brazilian Army, and devoid of military status, about 3000 women gaigned military knowledge and performed such activities in that period. The evocation of a certain “military female” would only be repeated in Brazil in the late 1980s. In the midst of the political use of the war by the varguismo, these women were simultaneously invoked as caregivers and as a significant part of the nation’s brave rearguard. Women, in general, as political propaganda, were a centerpiece in weaving the nation beyond the private and the domestic spheres. The war auxiliaries, in particular, were patriotically militarized and characterized as fearless women, who were responsible for the city and its population.

Keywords:
war; militarism; women