Nazi Economy 1933-45: Flashcards
(24 cards)
Hitler’s view on economics:
Primacy of politics - political needs were more important than economic needs i.e. rearmament more important than the cost of this.
Recovery and move to Autarky: How did the Nazi’s deal with unemployment from the GD? What late-Weimar policy protected Nazi economy?
-They created the RAD labour front for cheap manual labour with poor conditions which increased infrastructure.
-They also took Jews and women(marriage loan for staying at home) off the definition of workforce through the Reinhardt program so it appeared unemployment decreased.
- The GD had hit a low so unemployment was naturally starting to decrease.
-Created around 2.8 million jobs between 33 and 34.
-Bruning negotiated a temporary end to reparations due to the GD.
How did the Nazis manage agriculture under Hugenburg?
-Put tariffs on imports to made German produce cheaper and
-banned banks from repossessing
farms.
-Agricultural debts were written off.
-Tax cuts also to give them extra spending money.
Agriculture under Darre?
-RNS regulated food produce
- agencies were created to control import
-schemes were created to get women working on farms.
-fined 100000 RM for not conforming with RNS.
How much of produce in Germany was German by 1934?
80%
How did the Nazis deal with big business?
-
Discouraged big stores which didn’t support the Nazis
-1932 Law for the Protection of the retail trade meant businesses couldn’t expand and therefore suffered.
-Supported by steel industry (IG Farben)
-Tax cuts also to give them extra spending money.
-Hjalmar Schacht as president of Reichsbank to give confidence to these businesses.
How did the Nazis deal with workers?
-Made 1st May a socialist holiday to appease workers
- but also created DAF (only union in Germany for workers) which exploited workers as non-members struggled to succeed.
-The DAF was created to keep workers happy as they were a large section of his support.
Trade problems 1933-34:
Trade balance crisis as farms weren’t producing enough and workers were buying too much foreign goods.
Mefo Bills:
Mefo- private company, allowed government to buy arms and delay repayments.
-The rearmament also created jobs.
Schacht Policies to recover trade:
Import quotas: on cotton, wool etc. (no restrictions on military imports e.g. steel)
-Importing goods without a license was illegal.
Trade began with countries such as Ecuador, Brazil, Yugoslavia. This was because:
-Germany was more powerful so could get better deals.
New Plan: Success?
-Mostly successful
-Clothing price increased due to textile quotas.
-Living standards worsened due to rearmaments.
What happened 1935-36 which was bad for the economy?
Economic crisis as there was a bad harvest period meant that other countries demanded cash for goods .
-They were not yet in a position to do this due to the lack of Autarky progress.
-Shortages of fat and meat.
-rationing was introduced
1936-39: What was a command economy?
The state decides how much businesses produce.
What was the 4 year plan focussed on under Goering and why was it created?
-created due to the high foreign debts in 1936 and Hitler’s view that war was imminent with the Soviets.
Autarky - synthetic materials created where they couldn’t get the real thing e.g. Rubber was Buna.
-This created new factories which meant more jobs, but this took to long.
Why was the Office of the 4 Year Plan created? What did it do?
To solve the guns or butter debate (debate over whether rearmament or gaining the support of the people was more important - they had to keep their promise of ‘work and bread’).
- It was a centralised ministry to control production and
- encourage people to consume less produce.
-German economic policy became more radical once Schacht was gone.
Command Economy: Success?
-Success in that it increased annual coal production by 60 million tonnes.
-Steel produce slightly increased - but this steel was more expensive than importing due to the nature of mining and it never met the demands the military needed.
-Failed - by 1938 coal production had fell behind and there was a shortage of labourers to be able to do this.
-Only 20% of artificial oil that was needed was produced in 1939.
-Artificial goods in general were very expensive and rearmament was not going well - aircraft production actually declined - by 1939 they were on the brink of another inflation crisis - only avoided by keeping standard of living low.
What was life like for the ordinary worker?
-Wages were regulated which meant people had less extra spending money.
-The strength through joy programme created extra benefits e.g. medical loans, vitamins for mothers.
What was standard of living like 1933-39?
-Varied between conformists and ‘undesirables’.
-T4 programme was created to eliminate disabled children, mentally ill or elderly –> 70000 deaths.
-Asocial families sent to Hashude to be ‘re-educated’
How did Nazis deal social welfare?
-NSV created to give welfare to those they thought deserved it.
-They gave benefits to mothers and children (used for propaganda purposes) and also
-winter aid e.g. food and clothing.
-RM 2 mill was donated (often by threat)
What was the situation of the economy by 1939?
-Germany imported 17% of goods, propaganda created to persuade fish instead of meat.
-Big businesses resented the command economy and
-Germany was not as war ready as it needed to be (6 weeks of ammunition in September 1939)
-Even with this, the government had prevented public outburst against the restrictions on food.
1939-45: What was the problem with government administration during ww2?
–Several ministries were created for the same thing e.g. war production had war ministry and army, navy and air force
-None would cede control to others which created rivalries –> Fritz Todt (minister of armaments) couldn’t implement his plans to centralise due to this.
-The government ignored essential advice from engineers.
-Goering had too much power e.g. minister of Prussia, head of the Luftwaffe etc. and couldn’t give all his time to 1 job - he also gave jobs to people who didn’t threaten him rather than give them to people who were talented.
-Many big businesses ignored Goering’s unrealistic quotas. Nazi quotas were impossible to meet e.g. in 1939 Luftwaffe ordered to increase size to 21000 planes - it never exceeded 5000.
How did Speer run the economy from 1942?
-Created ‘central planning board’ to organise raw materials and production with new technology and mechanisation due to soldiers going off to fight.
-specialists to advise him.
-Under this, ammunition production increased by 97%
-tanks were needed so production changed accordingly.
-used brutal slave labour for work.
How did the economy fail towards the end of the Nazi Regime?
-Allied bombing destroyed factories.
-Land was lost with essential resources e.g. upper Silesia and farming land was destroyed
-so the black market reappeared.
-fuel crisis, lack of arms production.
Conclusion:
-Nazi economy was wildly inconsistent and chaotic: it could never pick a priority to focus on and issues like guns and butter were never solved, just endless attempts to compromise which failed both sides. Whilst not as severe as Weimar, it was a failure in that rearmament was never at a full scale combined with Goering’s poor management of the economy.
