Policies Flashcards
Economic Policies:
- Reduce unemployment: War production (the four Year Plan in 1936) workers hired in factories, building railroads (connecting East and West and used in the war), construction of Autobahn, schools, hospitals. Youth Labour Service: initially voluntary but later compulsory for males from 19-25, allowed for indoctrination. Conscription provided employment in 1935 for all 18-25 year olds serving in the army, going against ToV.
- Achievements: 1933 unemployment was 6 million and by 1939 Germany suffered a labour shortage; The Armed forces grew from 100,000 in 1933 to 1,400,000 in 1939.
- Failures: victims of civil purges,were not accounted for when calculating unemployment figures, Adam Tooze: “4 million out of work in 1935” - Strong economy to support the ideology of Lebensraum:
The New Plan by Schacht 1934:- All peasant debts of 12 billion marks were suspended between march and october 1933,
- German imports outweighed exports, leading to a fall in foreign reserves and gold, and the accumulation of debt, so implemented fiscalisaiton of imports
- Bilateral agreements: Especially with Balkan states, which were the main suppliers of German raw materials
- Mefo Bills: acted as government bonds that could be claimed with interest after 5 years, which aimed to disguise rearmament, increase the expenditure on it and prevent inflation
Successes:
- Bilateral Agreements allowed the import of more raw materials and increased Germany’s influence over the Balkans
- Mefo bills funded ½ of Germany’s rearmament between 1933-38.
Failures:
- Import shortage of consumer goods
- Gov. debt because of rearmament
- Hence, Schacht proposed to increase exports but Hitler fired him and replaced by Goering in 1936
The Four Year Plan 1936:
-Prioritised German rearmament and self-sufficiency in food and industrial production (key industries during the war). - The government increased control over imports, labour, raw materials, and prices. It also created targets that the private sector had to meet.
- Mason argued that rearmament hindered by having to supply both military and consumer goods, making Germany less prepared for war
Successes:
- In 1932, military spending accounted for 1% of Germany’s GDP, yet by 1940 military spending reached 38% of Germany’s GDP.
- Guns vs Butter: The economic investment in war production came at the opportunity cost of the production of consumer goods, especially food.
Blitzkrieg (1939-41)
- Anschluss and invasion of Czechoslovakia had supplied Germany with economic resources (labour and raw material); however, overlapping authorities of the government as “personal fiefdoms” that prevented political and economic policies from running smoothly, Germany was pushed into a war of attrition, which it was not able to sustain.
Economy under Albert Spear: Minister of armaments and war production (42-45)
- Spear restructured the economy, and mobilised to a total war. 3x more weapons in 1944 than 1941. Overy stated that Speer was a figure of authority that allowed the economy to become more efficient.
- Though the economy was more organised, Germany was not able to withstand the Allies’ attacks
3. Achieve autarky, so Germany did not depend on other countries
Strong Dictator Historiography
Historians
1. Consolidation of Power: Hitler successfully consolidated power in Germany through legal means and political maneuvering, becoming the undisputed leader.
Ian Kershaw
2. Totalitarian Control: He established a totalitarian regime, controlling all aspects of German society, including politics, media, and culture.
Alan Bullock
3. Intentionalists: Hitler planned Holocaust, it was an ideological aim
Weak Dictator
Historians
1. Delegation of Authority: Hitler often delegated significant authority to his subordinates, allowing them to make key decisions.
Ian Kershaw
2. Policy Inconsistencies: There were inconsistencies and contradictions in Nazi policies, suggesting a lack of clear direction.
Richard Overy
Social Policies: Youth
- Youth:
-All teachers were forced to join the National Socialist Teachers’ League (NSLB) which aimed to: Ensure conformity in their presentation of the Nazi ideology to the youth and control the teachers
- Students learned subjects like history (greatness of the past, “evil legacy of the Weimar”), biology, “Germanics” and “Eugenics” (Arian superiority) which aimed to teach different aspect of Nazi qualities. Noakes and Pridham noted that history was historically taught conservatively in Germany
- The Adolf Hitler Schools emphasised physical exercises, race purity & obedience.
- The Napolas focused on military discipline and leadership.
- Hitler Youth→ Militaristic activities, sports, and physical activities.Sax and Kuntz have said that, under Nazism, children “were duller and stupider, though healthier, individuals.”
- League of German Maidens→ Domestic, “women like” chores and activities.
- By 1935 nearly 60% of the 10-18 year olds had joined, though the movements were only compulsory in 1939.
Social Policies: Women
Women:
-Nazi propaganda: duties of the women were as mothers, housewives supporting their husbands, and community organisers.
-Abortion made illegal unless eradication of “genetic defects” + increase in maternity benefits + income tax allowance for dependent childre were raised and large families enjoyed concessions of school fees and railway fares.
-Lebensborn encouraged unmarried women with good racial credentials to become pregnant, with selected SS men as the fathers.
-Legislation and propaganda to remove women from workplaces to battle male unemployment (the Law for the Reduction of Unemployment of June 1933,)
-Marriage loans provided Just over half an average year’s earnings.
- Only 10 per cent of university entrants were female until a shortage of professional and technical experts in the later 1930s led to a relaxation of policy
- Rearmament plans in 1936: women were once more drawn back into factories.
- Family values while promoting independent youth who place party above their families;
Social Policies: Workers
Workers:
- May 1933 trade unions abolished, german labour front DAF was created not to fight for the better workers’ rights but to keep them in order and increase the production
- Beauty of Labour: ensured that facilities, meals, and workplaces were to good standards
- Strength Through Joy KdF provided leisure activities such as theatres and sports; however, the state now controlled people’s activities outside the workplace. Thus, Robert Ley claimed that it brought “sense of solidarity required by the Volksgemeinschaft”
- The Council of Trusts: opposite of class struggle, disputes between employers and employees were not resolved but create the sense of harmony
Social Policies: Minorities
Minorities (homosexuals, people with disabilities, Roma/Sinti, homeless)
- Sterilisation
- Demonisation
- Social exclusions
- Euthanasia
- Concentration camps such as Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen
Jews:
- Gestapo relied of Cultural Denunciation involving the general public to find those undesirable to the German state.
- Am 1. April 1933 sahen sich jüdische Gewerbetreibende, Ärzte und Rechtsanwälte einem reichsweiten Boykott ausgesetzt.
- Kristallnacht on 9-10 November 1938: Jewish stores, homes, schools, hospitals were ransacked: 100 killed, 30,000 incarcerated in concentration camps, 7,500 businesses destryed
- The Nuremberg Law in 1935: Jewish people were prosecuted legally
- 1938: Men had to have Israel and women Sarah as parts of their names
- 1941 had to wear the Star of David
- Holocaust, ghettoes established: 6 million Jewish people were killed
Social Policies: Church
Church:
- 1933 Concordat with the Pope
- Germans Christians created the Reich Church which attempted to reconcile the Catholic Church with the Nazi Church
- Could not attack the Church as they feared loosing support of German Catholics
- Propaganda of sexual abuse and pederasty to lure young people away from the Church
- However, the nazification of the Church failed as Catholicism remained popular
- Ian Kershaw: the Church did not attack Nazism because it shared some of its beliefs such as the opposition to Marxism and authoritarian state (conservative beliefs)
Foreign Policy:
Foreign Policy:
1. The Remilitarisation of the Rhineland in March 1936:
- lack of international intervention
- If there were reaction from the French soldiers, German troops were ordered to retreat
- German morale was boosted
- LoN did not make any claims condemning the occupation; German Olympics of 1936 were interpreted as a sign of peace and cooperation
2. The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939:
- Hitler, Mussolini, Franco to overthrow the elected Spanish democratic government
- Hitler believed that Germany’s involvement will be beneficial in 3 ways:
1. test military, practice military techniques, Luftwaffe, and intelligence gathering
2. Improving relations with Mussolini
3. Secure Spain as an ally for the future war, however, Spain remained neutral in WW2
- No internation from Britain and France, yet Britain favoured Germany’s and Italy’s intervention out of the fear of Spain becoming a puppet for far-left socialists
3. Rome-Berlin Axis October 1936:
- formalised the partnership in the Spanish Civil War
- Recognised Britain, France, and Russia as common enemies
- Concern from LoN
4. Anti-Comintern Pact November 1936
- Germany, Italy, Japan of mutual support and opposition towards communism
5. Hossbach Memorandum in November 1937:
- Goering and military commanders to discuss the policy of Lebensraum. Ned for an Anschluss with German-dense Austria and the invasion of Czechoslovakia
- In the following months, he removed cautious generals and diplomats such as Naurath (Foreign Minister) and Blomberg (War Minister)
- Secret Meeting so no international reaction
6. Anschluss with Austria in March 1938
- Germans were received with great enthusiasm by both Asutrian-Nazis and a big fraction of the population because people were thankful for the restabilisation of domestic affairs
- More territory, raw materials, personal prestige for Hitler
- No international opposition (Policy of Appeasement to stall the beginning of the war) because of 7 million Germans living in Austria, and the held plebiscite which made the Anschluss official, legal, and desirable,
7. Sudetenland crisis September 1938:
- Territory in the western Czechoslovakia with 3.5 million Germans who were suppressed by the government
- Czechoslovakia was created by the ToV, had alliance with France and USSR, with democratically elected government
- Raw materials, expansion of Germany, strengthening the morale
- Munich Agreement of September 1938 and the policy of appeasement ensured that Hitler understood the extent to which the Allies would not intervene
8. Invasion of Czechoslovakia in March 1939
- Prestige; however, showed the Allies his true war intentions
9. Pact of Steel 1939 with Italy
1. Declaration of trust and cooperation
2. “Secret Supplement Protocol” = a military and economic union between the nations
- Security for Hitler on Mussolini in the future war,
10. Nazi-Soviet Pact in August 1939:
- 10-year non-aggression pact between Germany and USSR
11. Invasion of Poland on September 1st 1939 justifying it by the Polish Government discriminating Germans:
- to expand Lebensraum
- regain territories lost by ToV
- gain strategic resources like the Polish Corridor, which gave Germans access to the sea
12. Allies declaring war on Hitler on September 3rd
- Was aware that the invasion of Poland will result in the declaration of war
- or unsure if it will come due to the policy of Appeasement
