Prosperity to Plunder Flashcards
Who was Hjalmar Schaacht?
appointed chief of germany’s national banks in 1933 and minister of economics 1934
What was the rat eof unemployment when hitler took to power in 1933?
- the number of german out of work was 5 million, the official figures understimated the level of unemployment which was probably closer to 7 million
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Why did hitler achieve an economic miracle?
- under schascht there was a substantial investment in a programme of public works such as Autobahnen
What evidence is there to demonstrate that hitler did achieve an economic miracle
- over the course of five years unemployment fell more quickly than in any other industrialised country in the world
- beteen 1933 and 1939 unemployment fell by 25.4% which 4.7million
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Why didn’t Hitler achieve an economic miracle?
- 1933-32 the world economic depression ended leading to a natural economic recovery, such as in in consumer spending and investment by companies, which was not the result of government policies
What evidence is there to demonstrate why hitler didnt achieve an economic miracle?
- jews who were dismissed from their jobs were not counted as unemployed
- women who left their jobs after the 1933 marriage loan scheme were not counted as unemployed
- a sizeale number of young people were taken off the unemployment register 1935 when it was declared 19-25 year olds had to do 6 months unpaid work in the newly formed Labour services
- the fall in unemployment owed more to ‘natural’ recovery and to secret disarmament than it did to public works programmes
What was Autobahnen?
- public work programme for the construction of several thousand kilometrees of motorway-style roads
How successful was Autobahnen?
- propaganda claimed building the Autobahnen made an important contribution to the reduction of unemployment but the number of jobs created was not very large
- lower profile job creation schemes involving land reclamtionl road repairs, and house building employed more workers
To what extent did Hitler prioritise his personal vs. the people’s economic interests?
- hitler would give the impression that his priority was the prosperity and well-being of the german people but what he wanted above all was an economy that would enbale total war
- Hitler reintroduced compulsory military service which ocntributed to a reduction on the jobless total
What was Schaacht’s New Plan, 1934?
- no one could import goods into germany without permission from the ministry of economics
What was the reason for Schaacht’s New Plan 1934?
Germany had a large trade defecit because the rearmament programme ensued the huge import of raw materials when the country’s exporters were struggling due to the taxes on imports and tariffs (introduced in many countries to protect their industries from foreign competition)
How successful was Schaacht’s New Plan 1934?
solved the immediate problem but it was bad news for ordinary germans: it meant fewer food imports and food shortages
How is the success of the economics of this period judged?
the nazi job creation programme was about something quite different than starting a general economic recovery
hitler explained his real aims in 1933 for the following five years:
Every publicly supported job creation scheme must be judged by the criterion of whether it is necessary from the point of view of the rearmament of the german people because germany’s position in the world will be decisively conditioned by the position of germany’s armed forces
What were the official statistics in the Nazi’s boastful proclamation to have drasticaly reduced unemployment levels?
by 1934 unemployment had fallen to less than half the levels of the previous two years
1935 unemployment levels at 2.2 million
1937 unemployment had dropped below the million mark
What was the effect of the incessant nazi propaganda boasting that the battle for work was being won?
gained widespread credence
helped win over may doubters and scpetics to the government’s side from may 1933 onwards pumped new euphoria into the third reich’s supporters
