Life for Workers in Nazi Germany Flashcards
Dr Hjalmar Schacht
- loyal supporter of Hitler before the Nazis came to power
- financial expert
- trusted by business people, foreign leaders and banks
- president of the Reichsbank, 1933
- minister of economy, 1934
- devised the New Plan
What were the aims of the New Plan?
introduced the New Plan to deal with:
1) Germany’s trade deficit ⬆️➡️
2) Revive Germany’s economy ⬆️💰
3) Introduce cuts to welfare spending 👵
4) Impose limits on imports of goods into Germany 🎁
5) Create trade agreements with other countries - Hungary 🤝
6) Increased spending on industries ⬆️💰🏭
How did the New Plan reduce unemployment
- work creation schemes
- compulsory labour service
- conscription to the army, 1935
- removing Jews and political opponents from certain jobs and replacing them with unemployed people
How was the New Plan successful?
- solved economic crisis in Germany, 1934-36
- enabled Hitler to rearm his forces
How was the New Plan unsuccessful?
- Hitler wanted to prepare Germany for war and rearm much faster, 1935
- Schacht told Hitler Germany could not afford to rearm so quickly
- Schacht lost his power and resigned in 1937
Hermann Goering
- 2nd most important person in the Nazi Party
- head of the German airforce (the Luftwaffe)
- President of the Reichstag
- he had been a fighter pilot
- loyal supporter of Hitler
- not an expert in economics or business
- devised the Four Year Plan
What were the aims of the Four Year plan?
- prepare for war in four years
Autarky
- make Germany self-sufficient in materials essential for war
- set targets for the production of these materials
How did the Four Year plan work?
- increase production of raw materials needed for rearmament
- persuade big businesses to produce key synthetic substitutes for raw materials
- reduce exports even further
- tighten control on prices and wages
- use forced labour if necessary
- targets for foodstuffs by Reich Food Estate
- build new industrial plants, huge mining and metal works
Why did Hitler believe the German economy had to be the focus of his attention?
- the depression had created great hardship and political instability
- he would have to sort it out if he wanted to stay in power
- he wanted to go to war and make Germany great again, this meant constructing a strong war economy
What was the New Plan introduced in 1934 to deal with?
A trade deficit
- there was more money leaving Germany than coming in
Autarky
A country is able to survive by itself economically
Conscription
Forced recruitment into the army
How did the Nazis resolve the problem of not achieving autarky?
Conquering other countries
Reich nature protection act, 1935
aimed to plant trees, and prevent cruelty to animals
How did women and Jews reduce unemployment?
- Many people, especially professional women and Jews were forced from the workplace
- their jobs were then given to those who were unemployed
- 1933 Jewish people were banned from all government jobs
- neither one of these groups were then counted as unemployed
How did conscription and rearmament reduce unemployment?
- Had a significant impact on unemployment levels through creation of new jobs
- 1933, 100,000 jobs in German army
- 1939, 1.4 million
- this took 1.3 million off the unemployment register
- thousands more jobs are created in armament military weapons and equipment and associated industries e.g steel and coal under the Four Year plan
- 46 billion marks spent on rearmament
- artificial substitutes were made for food and materials imported from other countries
How did the RAD (National Labour Service) and public works reduce unemployment?
the Reinhard Programme, June 1933
- massive 1 billion marks programme of public works to build autobahns, motorways, waterworks and railways
- 15,000 workers
Second Programme, September 1933
- tax incentives for construction projects in rural areas
- house building in towns
How did autarky and self-sufficiency reduce unemployment?
- Germany had to become self-sufficient in food and raw materials to prepare for war
- to do this, Hitler ordered scientists to create synthetic substitutes e.g. wool and cotton from pulped wood
offered many jobs
- reduced unemployment in new industries
How did the lives of workers change under the Nazis?
- government discouraged heavy drinking and alcoholics were sent to concentration camps
- screening programmes for cancer
- improvements in welfare
- universal healthcare
- job protection
- low taxation
- paid holiday went from 3 to 6 days a year
- trade unions were abolished, May 1933 and striking was declared illegal
What were trade unions replaced by?
The RAD
the German Labour Front (DAF)
- Replaced trade unions
- A Nazi workers organisation
- Led by Dr Robert Ley
- Promised workers it would look after them as well as the unions had
- Within two years, it had more than 20 million workers
the Beauty of Labour (sdA)
- Branch of the DAF
- Set up to encourage workers to be proud of their work
- Propaganda department
- ran campaigns to improve working conditions, through better, lighting, washing facilities, noise, reduction, and toilets
Strength through Joy (KdF)
- November 1933
- made to ensure workers were happy outside the workplace
- Brought fun into workers lives and made them feel valued through activities such as, picnics, cheap theatre and cinema tickets, evening classes, sporting activities and cheap holidays
- introduced savings scheme to own a Volkswagen Beetle
What were the negative impacts and ineffectiveness of the Nazis attempts to improve the economy?
Cons
- by 1939, Germany was still importing over one third of natural resources essential to the economy
- only way to make itself self-sufficient was to conquer other countries
the Nazis wrecked the economy because;
- The switch of production to munitions and rearmament weakened the economy
- To pay for the rearmament and public-works programmes, Nazis printed 12 billion marks of Mefo bills, creating inflation and by 1939 there was an economic crisis
- Food prices rose with a nutritional crisis in northern Germany and the death rate rose
- Propaganda promises failed to materialise
What was the impact and effectiveness of the Nazis attempts to improve unemployment?
pros
- when Hitler came to power, 1933, 6 million unemployed, by 1939, 300,000 unemployed
- employment in construction rose from 666,000 to more than 2 million 1933-36
cons
- unemployed men in RAD programme spent six months in camps, conditions were poor, wore uniforms + received small amount of money
How did the RAD reduce unemployment?
RAD, 1934
- extension of public works programme
- compulsory for all men aged 18-25 national civic service scheme
- wore military uniforms
- lived in camps
- only given pocket money as wages
- to create as many jobs as possible manual labour was favoured over use of machines
- Prepared men for life in the military
- gave men jobs in public work schemes, digging drainage ditches on farms, planting new forests, building schools and hospitals, building network of motorways
What was the impact and effectiveness of Nazi attempts to improve the lives of workers?
- 1928, 20 million days work lost to strikes 1939 none
- DAF was supposed to represent workers in discussions with employers however workers had to work longer hours, were not allowed to leave jobs without permission
- workshy were sent to concentration camps
- 1939, six years of Nazi rule employers benefited as incomes increased by 130%
- Ordinary workers did not see wages recover to pre-depression levels until 1938
- No German citizen ever received a Volkswagen Beetle
- When war broke out Prora holiday camp had not had a single visitor
- money was poured into rearmament number of public facilities declined
- Incomes improved steadily whilst prices grew slowly
- wages rose by 20% under the Nazis
- Agricultural wages rose quicker than those in industry
the Reinhard Programme, June 1933
the Reinhard Programme, June 1933
- massive 1 billion marks programme of public works to build autobahns, motorways, waterworks and railways
- 15,000 workers
Second Programme, September 1933
- tax incentives for construction projects in rural areas
- house building in towns
What were the positive impacts and effectiveness of the Nazi attempts to improve the economy
Pros
- Germany had a modern motorway network and new public buildings, and it had renamed its military
How was the RAD beneficial to the Nazis?
- beneficial to the Nazis because it
- provided them with cheap labour,
- reduced the numbers on the unemployed register,
- led to a network of motorways, which could be used for the mobilisation of the army during the war, and
- kept young people occupied
How did the Nazis wreck the economy
How did the new plan plan to reduce unemployment
unemployment was reduced by
- work creation schemes
- compulsory labour service
- conscription to the army, 1935
- removing Jews and political opponents from certain jobs and replacing them with unemployed people
Economic successes
- Unemployment levels ⬇️
- Reinhard Programme 🏠
- Autobahns 🛣️
- Nazi rearmament 🔫
- Farmers 🐄
Unemployment levels
1933 - 6 million unemployed (26%) 1939 - 300,000 unemployed (less than 1%)
Reinhard programme
- Built 1.8 million new homes.
- There were 2 million people employed in construction
Autobahns
At the cost of 6.6 billion marks, 4,000 kilometres of autobahns and 9,000 bridges were created
Nazi rearmament
- Big businesses benefitted from rearmament as they controlled 70% of industries.
- Income raised by 50%
Farmers
They benefitted from 20% increase in prices and wages increased
