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German History > Controlling the economy 1933-45 > Flashcards

Controlling the economy 1933-45 Flashcards

1
Q

what type of economic policy did hitler want

A

-ensure reasonable standard of living to guarantee public support
-provide resources necessary for rearmament to have dominance in europe
-autarky to guarantee national independence so less vulnerable in times of war
-provide sufficient resources for major architectural projects to remake germany into a country fit for the master race

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2
Q

what was the primacy of politics

A

-economic policy should serve political objectives
-hitler took politicial goal of rearmament as prority over economic issues

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3
Q

what did the nazis believe about capitalism

A

-thought it was decadent as it focused on profit and not the good of the aryan race

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4
Q

what did the nazis believe about communism

A

-rejected it as it put the good of the working class over the good of the aryan race
-wanted to make the aryan race financially, militarily, and politically stronger

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5
Q

what was Hitlers priority in jan 1933

A

work creation

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6
Q

who did hitler delegate economic policy to

A

Hjalmar Schacht

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7
Q

initially how did the nazi stimulate economy and create employment

A

-indirect stimulus: tax cuts (farming, heavy industry, small business), thought as taxes fell theyd have more money to spend so they could employ more workers, government grants (given to businesses to pay debts/buy new machinery, newly married couples, home owners to finance home improvement)

-direct stimulus: financed construction and industrial development, continued the reinhardt programme

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8
Q

what was the reinhardt programme

A

-established june 1933
-committed RM1,000 mill to public works
-road building (autobahns), bridge repairs, construction, waterways
-helped to improve railway network and created jobs in the postal service (allowed employment of unskilled and semi skilled workers)

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9
Q

what was government spending on work creation increased by

A

1932- RM1500 mill
1933- RM2000 Mill

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10
Q

how many jobs created between 1933 and 1934

A

increased by 2.8 mill jobs

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11
Q

what were the consequences of the work creation programmes

A

unemployment decreased, business confidence increased after appointment of Schacht as president of Reichsbank as they trusted him

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12
Q

what was unemployment between 1929-36

A

1929- 1.8 mill
1932- 5.6 mill
1936- 1.6 mill

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13
Q

why is it hard to say that the nazis caused economic recovery

A

-they only improved on existing policies and took the credit of weimar government
-expanded on voluntary labour service (RAD), it was designed to give work to young people between 19-25
-young people in the RAD scheme werent counted as unemployed despite them not being paid so this helped to keep down unemployment figures to make the nazis seem good

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14
Q

why was rearmament hard

A

-went against TOV
-expensive and the government already in debt

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15
Q

what was the Mefo GmbH

A

-a private company that could place orders for military goods
-allowed the government ti hide what they were doing
-by april 1934 largest industrial companies e.g. Siemens produced armaments for Mefo GmbH

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16
Q

how much did Mefo bills finance

A

1/5 of all military spending between 1933-39 (RM12 bill)

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17
Q

what was the problem of balance of trade

A

-creating more jobs=more money to spend=germans tending to buy foreign goods
-employing germans in public work schemes created no additional goods to export so created balance of trade crisis

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18
Q

how did balance of trade crisis affect rearmament

A

-needed to import raw materials to produce arms from abroad
-leads to more deficit

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19
Q

what was the new plan

A

-schacht made import quotas (allowed government to limit consumer imports while ensuring sufficient funds to continue importing goods crucial to rearmament)
-1934 strict quotas on wool cotton leather, but none on steel as they were needed for rearmament
-trade came back to balance in 1935
-stimulated trade with developing countries as Britain and US had much stronger economies

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20
Q

what were the developing countries that they trades with

A

Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, Yugoslavia, Latvia, Estonia

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21
Q

how did the new trade help trade deficit

A

-germany economy more powerful and developed so could get more favourable deals
-schacht could negotiate barter deals so they could trade without money leaving germany

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22
Q

was schachts new plan successful

A

-yes
-allowed economy to grow and solved balance in trade problem
-but success partly due to recovery of global economy e.g. greater demands for german goods from Britain and US and it was fortunate they didnt react to import quotas

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23
Q

what were consequences of prioritising rearmament

A

-standard of living dropped
-limit on wool, cotton, leather meant textile industry suffered (employed 20% of industrial workers)
-price of clothing rose

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24
Q

when were poor harvests

A

1934-35, led to shortage of food

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25
Q

who was nazi agriculture minister

A

Darre

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26
Q

what was the agriculture crisis

A

-darre thought rising food prices would lead to fall in popularity of the regime so essential to import food
-schacht didnt want to increase imports of food
-butter then rationed in 1935
-price of pork rose 30% 1934-36
-senior nazis knew rationing would be unpopular so wanted to avoid it
-showed the problem that the economy wasnt strong enough to produce both guns and butter

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27
Q

how did hitler respond to the agriculture crisis

A

short term- authorised more food imports to keep prices low and to avoid rationing
long term- began process of creating a command economy

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28
Q

how much of the working class in the population

A

46%

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29
Q

how much did the average working week increase by

A

1933- 43 hrs
1939- 47 hrs

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30
Q

how much did average hourly wages decrease by

A

1933 they were 3% lower than 1932
in 1939 they were still 2% below 1932 level

31
Q

what did the DAf set up for working class

A

KdF to bring leisure:
-subsidised sports training, gym classes, sailing lessons
-subsidised hiking trips, weekend breaks, package holidays

32
Q

what was the KdF budget and how many holidays made

A

1937 budget of 29 mill and subsidised over 1.7 mill short holidays

33
Q

what were the quality of the KdF holidays

A

-little privacy
-poor sanitisation
-little choice in entertainment so not many bought tickets

34
Q

did the working class benefit from economic policies

A

-take home pay increased in 1938 but only because workers were working longer hours
-Were increases in pay for those working in skilled jobs like armament industries, but elsewhere wages were still low
-did not benefit as the policies took away their power in their workplace and wages didn’t improve since the great depression

35
Q

did women workers benefit from economic policies

A
  • Policies led to more employment opportunities, Nazis willing to tolerate and encourage women in the workforce
  • Most women who were unemployed during great depression found jobs
  • Rise in employment reflected Nazis need for munitions workers to fulfil their objective of rearmament
  • Nazis still encouraged women to take clerical jobs to leave room for men in munition factories
  • Average women wage was half of men’s, they were often employed in jobs with lowest pay and status
  • Female textile workers earned less than average women’s wage, many were forced into sex work
    Overall: benefitted as had employment and wages but still was the norm for them to not be paid enough compared to men
36
Q

How much did women in work force increase by

A

increased from 11.4 mill to 15 mill by 1939

37
Q

how many workers in IG Farben

A

1939 had 200,000 workers and was worth 1.6 mill

38
Q

did middle class benefit from economic policies

A
  • Owners and managers of big firms benefited:
    -destruction of trade unions meant they could keep wages low and had greater demands on workers
    -benefited from government contracts to make munitions, military uniforms and synthetic goods
  • Some businesses rejected Nazis, Fritz Thyssen (United Steelworks) refused Goering to mine unprofitable steel causing Goering to criticise him saying he was putting profit over the nation-Thyssen worried that business leaders would begin to be executed for rejecting Nazi orders, led to him being put into a camp
  • Small businesses benefitted from destruction of trade unions and increased employment but rearmament didn’t benefit them, clothing firms hit from ban of imported textiles and by end of 1930s it was difficult for them to compete with big businesses
    Overall- benefitted but only if they agreed to Nazi orders
39
Q

how much of workforce did farmers make up

A

29% of work force in 1933, 1/3 living in rural areas

40
Q

did farmers benefit from economic policies

A
  • Darre (Nazi minister of agriculture) thought peasants were purest of aryans as they werent corrupted from industry or urbanisation, made reforms to protect them
  • darre’s reforms disadvantaged farmers- price controls reduced their profits and made it difficult for farms to pay wages high enough to attract workers, Reich Food Estate took a 25% cut of their money raised from food
    Nazis thought agriculture was a distraction, in long term they thought that agriculture could be solved by lebensraum
41
Q

what were darres reforms

A
  • Darre reforms included:
    -price controls of food
    -Reich Entail Farm Law, illegal to sell medium to large farms, ended practice of family farms being bought out by landowners, resulted in no mortgages
42
Q

how much did industrial production increase by

A

1928-100
1933-66
1938-125

43
Q

how much did import decrease by

A

1928- 14 bill
1938- 5.4 bill
autarky failed

44
Q

how much did exports decrease by

A

1928- 12.3 bill
1938- 5.3 bill

45
Q

how much did unemployment decrease by

A

1933- 3.7 mill
1938- 0.2 mill
data doesnt incude women or minorities or seasonal workers

46
Q

how much did real wages increase by

A

1933- 92.5
1936- 100
1938- 107.5

47
Q

how much did national income increase by

A

1933- 44 bill
1938- 79.8 bill

48
Q

how much did national debt increase by

A

tripled
1933- 12.3 bill
1938- 41.7 bill

49
Q

how much did government spending increase by

A

1933- 9.2 bill
1938- 32.9 bill

50
Q

how much did income increase for big businesses

A

116% - cartilisation (gives contracts to build war equipment)

51
Q

how much did income increase for farmers

A

41%

52
Q

how much did income increase for industrial workers

A

25%

53
Q

how much did public spending increase by

A

1933- 1.7 bill on construction, 1.8 bill on rearmament, 1.3 bill on transportation, 1.5 bill on work creation
1938- 7.9 bill on construction, 17.2 bill on rearmament, 3.8 bill on transportation, none spent on work

54
Q

how much did economic investment increase by

A

1934- 1 bill on military, 4.2 bill on civilians, 1 bill on basic industry
1938- 13 bill on military, 8 bill on civilians, 5 bill on basic industry

55
Q

how much did prices increase by

A

1913- 100
1933- 93.3
1938- 105.8

56
Q

how much was self sufficiency

A

Meat- 95%
Fats- 58%
Vegetables- 90%
Eggs-80%

57
Q

what was the four year plan

A

ensured that:
-german armed forces ready for war in 4 years
-german economy achieve autarky in 4 years

58
Q

what was hitlers reasoning behind 4 year plan

A

-laid it out in memorandum given to goering in sept 1936
-europe being threatened by soviet union
-thought war was inevitable, thought soviet victory would cause complete annihilation of germans
-therefore economy needed to be ready asap

59
Q

what did autarky require

A

-replacement imports of oil, gas, wool, cotton
-investments in new processes to turn coal into gas and oil to make synthetic (ersatz)rubber, fabrics and fertilisers

60
Q

what did hitler appoint goering as

A

-plenipotentiary for the 4 year plan
-head of the 4 year plan organisation
-gave him supreme economic authority
-but schacht still minister of economics so there were tensions between them

61
Q

what were successes of the 4 year plan

A

-coal production increased from 319.7 mill tonnes in 1936 to 381 mill tonnes in 1938
-became self sufficient in bread, sugar, potatoes
-steel production increased from 19.2 mill tonnes in 1936 to 22.6 mill tonnes in 1938
-increased production of ersatz rubber by 500% between 1936-38, was expensive

62
Q

what were failures of the 4 year plan

A

-turning coal into ersatz oil required more coal miners
-1938 officials estimated theyd need another 20,000 miners to produce enough coal
-in 1938 all areas of german industry facing labour shortages so producing enough coal impossible
-produced only 20% of oil required in 1939
-aircraft production declined, lack of fuel and workers
-but working with uneconomical iron deposits meant that steel was more expensive than imported steel
-consistently unable to deliver steel that military demanded
-1937 military leaders wanted 750,000 tonnes but only got 300,000 tonnes
-army said they wouldnt be ready for war until 1943
-huge amounts spent on rearmament meant 1939 almost in inflation crisis, prices increase
-if planning war, military spending would have to triple
-standard of living low

63
Q

what were the 4 centres of economic power

A

-4 year plan (organising labour, providing raw materials, producing munitions
-fritz todts ministry of munitions (producing munitions, organising labour, generating power)
-ministry of economics (allocated economic resources across departments)
-SS (ran labour camps that provided labourers for industry

64
Q

what was goerings roles and what was the problem with them

A

-head of lufftwaffe
-head of 4 yr plan organisation
-field marshall in army
-minster of prussia
-couldnt devote all attention equally
-reluctant to delegate his power to others as he was afraid theyd undermine him
-addicted to morphine which affected ability to work effectively

65
Q

what were the main wartime weaknesses

A

-chaos
-goering
-impossible plans
-allied economics
-priorities
-consumer economy

66
Q

describe the weakness of impossible plans

A

-targets for arms production were impossible
-1938-39 wanted to increase the size of lufftwaffe to 21,000 when they never exceeded 5,000 aircraft
-overestimated the ease in how they could get foreign resources (stalingrad-wanted soviet oil fields but shortage of skilled workers meant they couldnt get enough oil)
-invasion of soviet union in 1941, goering said luftwaffe could supply german army but was too small to fulfil promise
-economy wasnt rich enough to support these schemes

67
Q

describe the weakness of allied econonomies

A

-1941war with the richest economies in the world
-USA had richest country, huge workforce and advanced manufacturing techniques
-Britain was at the centre of the world biggest empire, accces to money workers and resources
-soviet union had the fastest growing economy with huge workforce

68
Q

describe the weakness of priorities

A

-had lack of clear prorities
-final solution was expensive and needed great labour power even though it served no military purpose
-goebbels propaganda disrupted the war effort, demanded money and labour to make major films during the ware.g. Kolberg
-proritised researcj and development of new weaponry, continuously updating weapons
-1940 spent 6 mill on weapon production when britain only spent 3.5 mill but produced 50% more aircraft
-hitler and goering convinced super weapons would lead to victory e.g. V1 and V2 rockets
-favoured construction of factories underground to protect from bombing but other argued it was expensive and impractical
-until 1943 continued to spend money producing goods that werent beneficial other than increasing morale, made products that perm hair when the british stopped producing lipstick in 1939

69
Q

describe the weakness of consumer economy

A

-lack of resources e.g. labour power to produce both armaments and consumer goods
-labourers joined the army in large numbers so there were food shortages
-goering tried solving this by importing food from allies but couldnt as they didnt have foreign currency
-goering then worked with SS to conscript foreign labourers but they were in demand for wartime production
-supply for agriculture limited and goerings efforts to boost agricultural production failed
-april 1942 meat ration dropped to 500g a week

70
Q

who was able to rationalise the economy in the final phase of war

A

Albert Speer, became head of Todt organisation and the armaments and war production ministry

71
Q

how did speer rationalise the economy

A

-established central planning board to coordinate economic organisation
-introduced modern production methods e.g. production lines
-prevented conscription of skilled workers so ensure the most effective workers could continue to produce goods
-excluded military leaders from economic decisions to give industrial managers more freedom to organise production
-encouraged employment of women
-made greater use of concentration camp labour
-established armaments commission to oversee the standardisation of munitions, ensured that army could use same ammunition

72
Q

were speers attempts to rationalise successful

A

-1942-44 war production trebled, war economy improved in some areas:
-ammunition production increased 97%
-total arms production increased 59%
-tank production increased 25%
-made better use of labour and by 1944 productivity in munitions increased by 60%

73
Q

describe the economic downfall by the end of the war

A

-end of 1944 couldnt produce enough armaments to replace those that were captured as allies advanced
-fuel crisis meant that economic production declined by 60%
-hitler ordered a policy that wanted to destroy all factories and farms that would be taken by the allies but speer realised that this would condemn many who survived the war to death by starvation
-speer then worked with industrialists to save factories and farms in order to ensure survival of the people after the war
-as red army advanced, refugees fled to germany so more strain on resources
-april 1945 impossible for government in Berlin to sustain regular communications

German History (6 decks)

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