1. How Hitler Transformed the German Economy
Hitler and the economy
How Hitler Transformed the German Economy
10/11/2018
Weimar and Nazi Germany

2. Weimar and Nazi Germany
Objectives
At the end of this lesson you should be able to:
Understand Hitler’s priorities on coming to power
Evaluate the Schacht period of economic management
Understand the importance of Goering and the 4 year Plan
Explain how the Nazis attempted to reduce unemployment.
Evaluate the success or otherwise of Nazi economic policy
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Weimar and Nazi Germany

3. Weimar and Nazi Germany
Unemployment
During the election campaigns Hitler had promised to solve unemployment. This was only one of his aims
10/11/2018
Weimar and Nazi Germany

4. Hitler’s economic priorities
1. Drag Germany out of the world recession
2. Solve unemployment (which he had promised to do)
3. Make Germany an “autarchy” – self sufficient
4. Get rid of Jewish industrialists and give their businesses to “Aryans”
4 Transform the economy to focus on rearmament and war
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Weimar and Nazi Germany

5. How did the Nazis reduce unemployment?
Soon after the Nazis came to power many Jews and women were forced out of their jobs. Although their jobs were given to unemployed people, the names of the Jews or women who became unemployed were not recorded on the unemployment registers.
Also unmarried men under 25 who were in the RAD did not count as unemployed.
Hitler spent billions of marks subsidising public works schemes such as the building of autobahns, hospitals, schools and houses.
They also subsidised private firms such as Siemens
How did the Nazis reduce unemployment?
The RAD was made compulsory from 1935 for all men aged These were jobs such as digging drainage ditches on farms, planting new forests, or building schools and hospitals. The biggest public works scheme was the construction of a network of motorways. Men in the RAD had to wear military uniform, live in camps and were only given pocket money as wages. But for many thousands of men that was better than life with no job - they got free meals and were made to feel proud as they were helping build Hitler’s new Germany.
In March 1935 he started compulsory military service for young men, and set up an air force. The army quickly grew from 100,000 in 1933 to 1,400,000 men in More men in the army meant 1,300,000 less unemployed. To equip this new army 46 billion marks was spent on weapons and equipment. Thus thousands more were given work creating the tools of war.

6. INVISIBLE UNEMPLOYMENT
Describe how the Nazis tackled unemployment. (4 marks)
1-2 marks
Brief overview, lacks detail.
RAD
3-4 marks
More detailed and accurate description
REARMAMENT
INVISIBLE UNEMPLOYMENT
PUBLIC WORKS

7. Weimar and Nazi Germany
Hjalmar Schacht
Schacht was President of the Reichsbank who directed German economic policy
He believed in steady growth and a stable currency
He promoted trade agreements with developing countries trading manufactured goods for cheap raw material
Introduced Mefo Bills to finance increased publci spending without causing inflation.
He was against spending out too much on rearmament before the German economy was strong enough
His New Plan of 1934 aimed to reduce imports into Germany and to strengthen the currency
He fell out with Hitler over the speed of rearmament and was replaced by Hermann Goering in 1936
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Weimar and Nazi Germany

8. Weimar and Nazi Germany
Hitler’s Ideas
German economy can be converted into a war machine
Germany must rearm quickly, conquer countries by Blitzkrieg or lightening war, takeover their economies and move on
Conquered countries would give the master race “Lebensraum”
By exploiting conquered countries living standards could be maintained at home despite all the money being spent on war
In 1936 Goering was appointed to introduce a 4 year plan to put Hitler’s ideas into action
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Weimar and Nazi Germany

9. The aims of the 4 year Plan
Speed up rearmament and make Germany ready for war
Make Germany self sufficient in raw materials “autarchy” by developing home grown substitutes.
In 1933 total money spent on the military was 1.9 million marks by 1939 it was 32.3 million!
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Weimar and Nazi Germany

10. What were the results of this?
The size of the German army grew massively
Hitler became more confident and started to openly break the Treaty of Versailles
Czechoslovakia 1938
Austria 1938
Poland 1939
World war broke out!
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Weimar and Nazi Germany

11. Was the 4 year Plan a success?
Unemployment dropped quickly 4.8 million in 1933 to 0.5 million in 1938
Wages rose slightly but were still lower in 1938 than they had been in 1928
Working hours went up to 49 hours per week in 1939 – 52 hours in 1943 to over 60 hours per week by 1945
There were fewer consumer goods (personal and household goods
Trade unions were replaced by “Beauty of Labour” and strength Through Joy” who organised better conditions and leisure activities
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Weimar and Nazi Germany

12. Were people better off under the Nazis?
Unemployment fell everywhere not just in Germany
Some people were forced to work on public works
There were disadvantages to SDA and KDF – workers had no representation
Workers put more into the economy than they got out
If you were “Aryan” and of no strong political beliefs life was relatively good
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Weimar and Nazi Germany

13. SCHACHT MEFO FOUR YEAR PLAN REARMAMENT
Explain how the Nazis attempted to control the Germany economy (5 marks)
1-2 marks
Brief overview, or description.
SCHACHT
3-5 marks
Explains multiple ways that they tried to control the economy.
MEFO
FOUR YEAR PLAN
GOERING
REARMAMENT

14. How did the lives of workers change?
Strength Through Joy served two main purposes.
The first was to ensure that no one had too much time on their hands to get involved in untoward activities against the state. There was a belief that idle hands might get involved in anti-state misdemeanours.
The second main purpose of Strength Through Joy was to produce an environment within Nazi Germany whereby the average worker would be grateful to the state for providing activities and holidays that in ‘normal’ circumstances they could not afford as individuals.
By 1936, KdF had a membership of 30 million Germans. The scope of the organisation was vast. It arranged theatre trips, summer holidays, skiing holidays, summer and winter hikes, cruises and outdoors activities. People living in the countryside had trains made available for them to get into a city to watch theatre performances. The state provided about as much as could be needed to take up anyone’s slack free time.
The number of people who participated in KdF events was huge. In 1934, 2.1 million people took part in some form of KdF event. By 1937, this had risen to 9.6 million. Between 1936 and 1937, over 1 million hikes were organised. Fascist Italy was one of the few European countries to help out. Cheap skiing holidays were held in the Italian Alps while in the summer around 30,000 people holidayed on the Italian Riviera. Strength Through Joy ships took a lucky few on cruise holidays.
Strength Through Joy also set up the scheme for a worker to purchase a car – the People’s Car; the Volkswagen. Hitler himself approved of the Volkswagen and workers were allowed to make monthly payments towards a new car, which were recorded in a savings book. As war approached, the factories that were meant to produce Volkswagens were turned over to war work. No worker ever received a Volkswagen car but such was the entrenchment of the police state – and the fear of a knock on the door – no one was brave enough to complain. Those Volkswagens that were built went to military staff, while the payments made for a new car were invested into the expansion of the military.

15. The German Labour Front (DAF)
Within months of taking power, Hitler decided to abolish all trade unions. In their place he set up the German Labour Front which was run by Dr Robert Ley. It put in place a number of rules:
bosses could no longer sack workers on the spot
workers could not leave a job without the government’s permission
only government-run labour exchanges could arrange new jobs
workers could no longer bargain for higher wages
strikes were made illegal
limitations on the hours a person could work were abolished. Many Germans were working hour weeks by 1939.
Was the German Labour Front good or bad? Explain.

16. WAGES KdF CONTROL DAF OPPORTUNITY
Explain how the lives of workers changed under Nazi rule. (5 marks)
1-2 marks
Brief overview, or description.
KdF
3-5 marks
Explains multiple ways that they tried to control the economy.
CONTROL
DAF
WAGES
OPPORTUNITY