Big business, the middle classes, Volksgemeinschaft Flashcards
What were middle class people primarily grateful to the Nazis for?
For eliminating the Communist threat to their businesses and properties
What else did many middle classes thank the Nazis for restoring?
A sense of order to Germany
How much did the Nazis benefit the middle classes?
Depends - they had had a mixed record
What sort of small businessmen would have benefitted from Nazi rule?
An engineering firm which could have benefitted from rearmament
Who would not have benefitted under the Nazis?
A small local shop - the big department stores (much like Tesco etc. today) took a lot of their business
Who definitely benefitted from Nazi rule?
Big businesses
Why did big businesses benefit in terms of trade unions?
Trade unions were shut down to workers could not longer strike/campaign for better wages
How did chemical giant IG Farben benefit from Nazi rule?
They received enormous government contracts to make explosives, fertilisers and even artificial oil
What happened to the wages of managers at big businesses?
They rose by 50% between 1933 and 1939
What percentage of small businesses shut by 1939?
20% (or one fifth)
Which steel company profited a great deal from rearmament?
Krupp Steel
What was meant by ‘Volksgemeinschaft’?
National community
What was the idea behind Volksgemeinschaft?
That people would not see themselves as workers or farmers, but as pure Aryan Germans, belonging to the national community
Why did Hitler push the idea of Volksgemeinschaft?
To encourage loyalty to him and to encourage Germans to put their country first (rather than their own self interest)
Did Volksgemeinschaft succeed?
Not completely. Although Germans did have a strong sense of national pride in the 1930s, they did not just abandon their own self-interest.
However, at least on the surface, most Germans seemed to accept the Nazis
