How Did The Nazis Reduce Unemployment? Flashcards
Creating the Nazi labour service
❑ The Nazi Labour Service was set up in 1933 and at first it was voluntary. It provided work specifically for the unemployed.
❑ The work was focussed on ‘public works’ such as repairing roads, building hospitals, schools, sports facilities like the 1936 Olympic Stadium
❑ These projects were all made very visible to the German public who saw them as the start of a new Germany –literally rebuilding itself.
❑ The Nazi Labour Service was then made compulsory in 1935. All unemployed men had to work for 6 months at a time.
❑ It was not always popular as it was organised and run a lot like the army. It had a uniform and there was strict discipline. However, the men had no opportunity to resist the work.
Rearmament and conscription
❑ One of Hitler’s main aims was to re-build Germany’s armed forces after the Treaty of Versailles had limited it in 1919. Hitler was allowed to get away with this as no country wanted to start another war.
❑ In 1935, he introduced compulsory military conscription. All young German men would have to serve in the armed forces. This therefore meant that the armed forces needed more transport, arms (weapons) and equipment. Therefore, more workers were needed in factories to make these goods.
❑ In 1936, Hitler put Hermann Goering in charge of an economic Four Year Plan to organise rearmament.
❑ Arms industry spending = 3.5 billion marks in 1933. By 1939 = 26 billion marks.
❑ The aircraft industry employed 4,000 in 1933. By 1935 = 72,000.
❑ The army = 100,000 men in 1918. By 1939 = 900,000 men.
Building the autobahn
❑ The Nazis planned 7,000 miles of new motorways throughout Germany.
❑ It was started in 1933 by Hitler himself & used as a publicity stunt by the Nazi Party to show Hitler’s role in rebuilding Germany.
❑ By 1935, 125,000 men were employed to help with the project and by 1938, 3,500km of road had been completed. This was a massive achievement and the Nazis again made sure the German public were aware of this great success.
❑ The Nazis financed it all with help from big business leaders who would benefit from the transport links to sell their goods. Goods could now be traded all around Germany to benefit all industries.
The Nazi labour services hidden figures
Even though men only worked for 6 months at a time, if they were not in work, they were still not included in unemployment figures.
Women’s hidden figures
Even though women were forced out of many jobs and not in work, they were not included in the unemployment statistics.
The Jews and unemployment
Jews who were forced out of jobs were not then included in unemployment statistics as they were not seen as German workers.
Prison and camps unemployment hidden figures
Many more thousands of people were put in prisons or camps. They were not included in unemployment statistics.
Other countries unemployment hidden figures
Other European countries saw a natural recovery from the economic depression too – not just Germany.
Changing borders after 1939
Before war in 1939, Hitler had started invading areas around Germany, it cannot be clear if this was taken into account.
The army
1.3 million men were in the armed forces by 1939. These men had no choice to join due to conscription.
Changing statistics
The Nazis changed how numbers were collected. After 1935, even those with a part-time job were classed as fully employed.
