chaptee fifthteen

Question 1

In January 1933 the Germany economy was in the depths of depression with nearly

Answer 1

6 million people out of work

Question 2

Previous regimes had failed to address unemployment , thus being a reason why in 1930-1932 hitler promised to take decisive action to get people back in work by 1935 the official figures showed that

Answer 2

Unemployment had fallen to 2 million

Question 3

However by 1939 there were shortages in

Answer 3

labour in key industries

Question 4

When hitler was appointed as chancellor on 30 January 1933 , the Nazi party did not have a

Answer 4

Clear coherent and carefully thought out economic policies

Question 5

However upon hitlers appointment he had some clear aims , in the short term and longer term

Answer 5

Short term
Economic recovery from the depression
Reduction of unemployment
Fundamentally to boost the regimes popularity and help consolidate their power

Long term
Create an economy able to sustain major rearmament programme geared towards the needs of a future war
This would require Germany to be self sufficient in the production of food and vital raw materials , economic autoarky

Question 6

During the years 1933-1936 Schacht , president at the reichsbank and from August 1934 economic minster , directed the regime to stimulate economic recovery by

Answer 6

pumping money into the economy to build homes and autobahns
stimulating consumer demands by giving tax concessions and grants to particular groups
giving subsidies to private firms to encourage them to take on more workers
putting controls on wages and prices to control inflation
producing the new plan in 1934 to control Germany’s foreign trade and improve the country’s balance of payments
taking the first steps towards rearmament , using an ingenious method for financing the expenditure , mefo bills

Question 7

Richard Evan’s described the autobahns as ‘one of the most durable propaganda exercises mounted by the third reich ‘ as the autobahns were seen to be a sign of economic revival and Actionable renewal however in reality

Answer 7

the construction of the autobahns employed relatively few people , at the peak of the construction only 125,000 people , construction slowed by 1938 and stopped by 1942

Question 8

The nazis priority after coming to power in 1933 was to reduce unemployment and was labelled

Answer 8

The battle for work

Question 9

Supporting the battle for work , large sums of money weee spent on building roads and public buildings and increased industrial production was stimulated through

Answer 9

loans and tax relief to private companies

Question 10

The nazis were lucky when coming to power that the economy was already being to revive however their measure undoubtedly helped to

Answer 10

Reduce unemployment faster than what might of been the case otherwise

Question 11

Under the battle for work , by 1935 a reich labour service was introduced under which unemployment men were compelled to do

Answer 11

Six months in farming or construction

Question 12

Later in 1935 the battle for work regime continued and thus military conscription was introduced for

Answer 12

Young men

Question 13

As the economy began top revive in 1933 and 1934 foreign trade increased and this led to imports growing faster than exports , in turn led to a shortage of foreign currencies which were needed to purchase imported goods, this led to the introduction of

Answer 13

The new plan by schacht

Question 14

The 1934 new plan placed controls on imports and on access to foreign to currency , schacht also initiated a series of trade agreements with foreign countries especially states in

Answer 14

The balkans and South America whereby Germany was supplied with food and raw materials , which were paid for in German reichsmarks . The supplying countries could only use this money to buy German goods

Question 15

In order to finance rearmament , the nazis needed to borrow money whilst avoid the dangers of runaway inflation , schacht had devised a scheme whereby

Answer 15

The government paid for its military equipment using credit notes or mefo bills

Question 16

Mefo bills could be exchanged for cash at reichsbanks thereby ensuring that private companies would have confidence they would get their money however the co panties were given an incentive to defer asking for payment by the offer of

Answer 16

4% per annum interest on their bills if they kept them for the full five year term
In this way rearmament could be started in 1935 without the government having to have the funds to finance it , also advantageous as it could be secret as the expenditure did not appear in the governments accounts

Question 17

Schacht measures succeeded in reviving the German economy and reducing unemployment but created a new set of problems in addition to the balance of payments problems and shortage of foreign exchange their was also

Answer 17

Food shortages , rising prices and lower living standards for ordinary Germans in 1935-36

Question 18

Reports from Germany around this time 1935-36 spoke of growing disillusionment with the regime this raised important questions about the regimes priorities the food shortages could be resolved through

Answer 18

Imports but this would use up valuable reserves of foreign currency also needed for the import of raw materials for the armaments damaging the rearmament programme

Question 19

This confilict of pritorties within the regime was sometimes referred to as a choice between guns or butter , this was finally resolved by the decision to strive for

Answer 19

Economic self sufficiency
Expanding. Home production of both food and raw materials would in theory reduce dependence on imports and the need for large reserves of foreign currency

Question 20

This policy referred to by the nazis as economic autarky was the basis of a new four year plan which was introduced in 1936 , schacht who has opposed the move towards autarky was marginalised and responsibility for the four year plan was given to

Answer 20

Herman goering

Question 21

the aim of the four year pan was to make

Answer 21

Germany ready for war

Question 22

although a future war was implicit in the nazi quest for lebenstraum (living space) in the east the gearing of the war in the four year plan was the first

Answer 22

explicit indication that the regime was planning for war

Question 23

the priorities of this plan were

Answer 23

rearmament and economic autarky

Question 24

these were to be achieved by :

Answer 24

creating a managed economy with controls on labour supply , prices , raw materials and foreign exchange
setting production targets for private companies
establishing new state owned industrial plants such as the Hermann goering steelworks
increasing production of key commodities such as iron , steel and chemicals
encouraging research and investment in the production of substitute products such as artificial rubber and extracting oil form coal , thereby reducing germanys dependence on imports

Question 25

the four year plan achieved to autarky in

Answer 25

food production and vital raw materials in order to prepare the German economy for war

Question 26

autarky with its limits to national sovereignty and its embodiment of national pride and independence fitted well with

Answer 26

the nazis ideological aims

Question 27

autarky according to the nazi party programme would

Answer 27

’ free Germany from the chains of international capital ‘

Question 28

the effort to increase production was presented as a battle in which the whole

Answer 28

’ peoples community ‘ had to participate

Question 29

propaganda campaigns to persuade people to buy only

Answer 29

German goods
eat only German food
use only German raw materials in their work
was presented as their patriotic duty

Question 30

there was also propaganda campaigns to persuade germans to save more since

Answer 30

savings would help fund investment in new production in facilities

Question 31

in 1937 the regime launched a campaign to collect

Answer 31

scrap metals from peoples homes and gardens and from public spaces such as parks to makeup for serious shortages in materials

Question 32

garden fences , park railings and iron lampposts were removed to be

Answer 32

melted down

Question 33

pots and pans were collected from peoples homes by the hitler youth and local committees were set up

Answer 33

to co ordinate collections

Question 34

the results of the four year plan did not match the

Answer 34

propaganda claims

Question 35

German industry , despite massive investment did not meet the targets set by the regime and in 1939

Answer 35

Germany still imported one third of its raw materials
in food production , there were similar fallings

Question 36

the reality of the four year okay was that the German economy did not have the resources ti achieve all of

Answer 36

the regimes aims

Question 37

in order to maintain the levels of consumption and avoid the risk of alienating the people, labor and capital had to be diverted

Answer 37

from war industries

Question 38

by 1939 the German economy was under

Answer 38

serve strain

Question 39

Many but not all of Germany’s business leaders welcomes the Nazi takeover of power in

Answer 39

1933

Question 40

Thyssen and Hugenberg had helped hitler in his bid to take power and hitler was careful to

Answer 40

Offer reassurance to business leaders that they did not need to be worried about the socialist elements of the Nazi party

Question 41

In the early months of the Nazi regime many of their policies were to benefit to businesses ie

Answer 41

The suppression of trade unions
Establish,ent of political stability
Revival of the economy
All favourable to businesses

Question 42

On the other hand as Nazi economic policies began to develop there were many business leaders who did not welcome

Answer 42

The greater state intervention in the economy with its controls on the supply of labour and raw materials and price controls

Question 43

On the other hand as Nazi economic policies began to develop there were many business leaders who did not welcome

Answer 43

The greater state intervention in the economy with its controls on the supply of labour and raw materials and price controls

Question 44

In general the Nazi regime was able to enlist the co operation and expertise of big business and management in the implementation of its

Answer 44

Economic policies

Question 45

When the four year plan was launched there were many opportunities for businesses to make profits through

Answer 45

Involvement in the rearmament programme

Question 46

One firm that benefited enormously was the large chemicals company I.G Farben who was heavily involved in research and production of synthetic materials , one of the directors of

Answer 46

I.G Farben held a key post in the administration of the four year plan and between 1935 and 1939 the profits of IGF increase from 71 million to 240 million Reichsmarks

Question 47

On the other hand some companies were sceptical about the plan , many of the Ruhr iron and steel firms were reluctant to invest in the new steelworks ton produce steel from

Answer 47

Poor quality and expensive German iron ore rather than use cheaper and superior imported ore

Question 48

The regimes response was to bypass them all together by establishing. Very large state owned steelworks called

Answer 48

The Herman goering steelworks

Question 49

Goebbels and the Nazi propaganda machine used all their resources and skills to project an image of success of Nazi economic policies ie

Answer 49

Speeches and radio broadcasts by Hitler repeatedly claimed that the ‘ battle for work ‘ had been won but 1936 m and was not mentioned after 1936 to create and impression that unemployment was no longer an issue
Advertising campaigns such as ‘ people’s receiver ‘ and the ‘ people’s car ‘ and for cruise ship holidays gave the impression of a rise in living standards
military parades showing off the latest equipment and patriotic campaigns to convince Germans to to buy only German goods and show Germany to be achieving economic autarky , and ready for war
- exaggerated successes and covered up the failures in Nazi economic policies

Question 50

Official unemployment figures show a dramatic reduction in the number of unemployed by 1934 and a continuing fall after that , this was on the basis of the claim. That the ‘ battle for work ‘ had been won due to Nazi economic policies , but there were several flaws in these claims

Answer 50

economic recovery begun before nazis took power , and policies used to reduce unemployment were based on Brunings policies , in early 1930s
reduction in unemployment was due to women being persuaded or leave their job if marrived and through granting them marriage loans , releasing jobs for unemployed males
Reintroduction of conscription in 1935 for young men aged 18-25 taking a large proportion of men out the labour market
official figures showed a drastic increase of employment but statistics were inflated by part time work and conscription or unpaid work

Question 51

Richard Evan’s estimated that ‘ invisible employment ‘ was as high a

Answer 51

1.5 million
Thus the Nazi estimate of 1.6 million out of work by 1936 should be closer too 3 million , it would be too many to claim ‘the battle for work ‘ had been won

Question 52

After 1936 however rearmament led to a rapid expansion of employment abs thus resulted in

Answer 52

A labour shortage by 1939

Question 53

Nazi propaganda emphasised the duty of all German citizens to make sacrifices on behalf of the

Answer 53

People’s community Volksgemeinschaft - by working longer hours and accepting a squeeze on wages

Question 54

At the same time propaganda also stressed the benefits that the Nazi regime had bestowed on workers through

Answer 54

Improved working conditions
Better social welfare provision
access to good and services that had previously only been available to the privileged few

Question 55

Despite official attempts to hold down money wages , incomes for many workers did increase during the years 1933-39 some employers were prepared to pay

Answer 55

bonuses and other benefits to get around the freeze on wages to attract more skilled workers

Question 56

Pay increase due to the longer hours being worked but on the other hand workers were subjected to increased

Answer 56

Deductions because of the compulsory contributions they had to make to the German labour front and to welfare organisations

Question 57

Thus it is difficult to generalise what happened to the standard of living of majority of workers in these years , on one hand

Answer 57

workers in key industries such as armaments were better off , those in producing consumer goods were not

Question 58

Living standards depend as much on prices as they do on incomes , prices rose during the 1930s and there were shortages of some key commodities , German consumers were able to

Answer 58

Feed their families but could afford few luxuries

Question 59

The consumption of higher value foods such as meat , fruit , eggs declined while the consumption of lower value foods such as

Answer 59

Potatoes and rye bread increased
- there was pressure on living standards and gestapo and sopade reports occasionally showed some discontent with the regime

Question 60

On the other hand the fact the regime succeeded in persuading the population to shoulder the burden of rearmament without triggering a wages explosion or mass opposition indicates the

Answer 60

Successes of propaganda campaigns such as the ‘ battle for production ‘

Question 61

The drive for rearmament the target of achieving economic autarky placed considerable strain on the German people including

Answer 61

Longer working hours
Higher prices
Growing shortages

Question 62

From time to time there were serious shortages of eggs and meat as well as shortages of wheat to make rye bread , price controls and the introduction of rationing in some key commodities helped to

Answer 62

Alleviate the pressure in the late 1930s

Question 63

Despite these growing hardships there were few signs of unrest , Nazi propaganda together with the use of terror had succeeded in persuading

Answer 63

The majority of the German people to accept these burdens