Society and Economy in Nazi Germany Part four The Nazi economy under Goering 1936 to 1939

Aims of the lesson By the end of the lesson you will Understand what we mean by the term Autarky and evaluate the extent of German self-sufficiency by 1939 Understand the main features if the four year plan and evaluate its effectiveness Evaluate Goerings stewardship of the German economy between 1936 and 1939

Goering and the four year plan Goering did not trust Schacht and wanted to control the economy himself But he was not a professional economist In 1936 he implemented the four year plan which aimed to make Germany self-sufficient and ready for war by 1940

Autarky Hitler wanted Germany to be self-sufficient in raw materials by 1940 so that she did not have to depend upon other countries Coal, oil and iron He called this Autarky Concentrated on producing synthetic replacements for rare raw materials

How successful was Autarky? New industrial factories built and by 1939 Germany was the world leader in synthetics But by 1939 Germany was still not fully self-sufficient She was still importing more than a third of the raw materials that she needed Not a total success – in reality Autarky was unachievable

Rearmament to 1939 From 1936 Germany was preparing for war – Autobahns were only build so that tanks could be moved quickly When it became obvious that autarky was not going to be achieved the Nazis needed to invade other counties in order to get access to raw materials such as oil & gas Shows how economic and foreign policy began to overlap

How successful was Goering? He promised Hitler success but did not succeed – a soldier not an economist Autarky was impossible to achieve – but came a long way in a short time In 1939 Germany was not prepared for a long war In reality Goering had failed – Hitler never forgave him