Gearing the economy 1939-42: Goering and Todt

Speer 1942-45: the miracle man?

The impact of bombing 1942-45.

Connector

Outcomes

• To know the roles of Goring, Todt and Speer

• To know how the Nazi economy was affected by the war

• To know how the allied bombing affected the economy and war production

Expansion of War Economy

• Hitler wanted to avoid the problems Germany faced in World War 1

• In 1939 war economy decrees were issued by Hitler outlining vast programmes for every part of war production

• This suggests that the Nazi were going way beyond a European war

• German military expenditure doubled between 1939-1941 and food rationing was introduced from the beginning of the war

• 55% of the population worked in war related projects upto 61% by 1944.

• Consumption declined by 20% in civlian consumption

Limitations of economic mobilisation

• Wholesale mobilisation did not bring massive results – Submarines increased– Airforce- 8290 in 1939 to 10780 in 1941, low

compared to Britain – When Hitler wanted to invade Russia in 1940

he only had 800 more tanks than when he invaded France

Why did this happen?

• Many projects were not ready and there were confusion between Nazi leaders over long and short term projects

• This was because a host of different agencies were competing for the same raw materials eg the Ministry of Armaments clashed with the economics, finance and Labour.

• There were a number of groups responsible for armaments, including the office of the Four Year Plan, the armed forces (Luftwaffe, Wehrmacht and navy)

• The armed forces were determined to have the best equipment possible and often chose quantity over quality

1942-45

• In 1941 Hitler issued a Rationalisation Decree which intended to eliminate waste and inefficiency

• In 1942 Albert Speer was appointed Minister of Armaments, previously he was Hitler’s personal architect

• He used Hitler personal authority to cut through the mass of interests and to implement mass production

• Controls and constraints previously placed on business were relaxed in order to fit in with Nazi and a Central Planning Board was established in 1942, whose members each represented one vital section of the economy

• Speer encouraged industrialists and engineers to join the board but excluded military personal.

Speer

• Used his personal friendship with Hitler and his personal skills to charm or blackmail other authorities – Employed more women in war factories– Using concentration camp prisoners as

workers – Preventing skilled workers being lost to

military conscription

Success and limitations

• In 6 months– Ammunition increased 97%– Tank production up 25%– Total arms production up 59%

• But– Gauleiters remained powerful at local levels– The SS remained a law unto themselves in

conquered lands

Allied Bombing

• After 1942 the Allies began to bomb civilian and industrial targets in Germany, upto then Britain had followed a campaign of strategic bombing, only attacked certain targets

• This was known as area bombing where a certain area would be more or less flattened

• This caused industrial destruction and broke down communications and certainly halted the increase in war production

• When production peaked in 1944 it was at a level well below its full potential

Effects of bombing

• 24th July a massive raid on Hamburg created a fire storm that killed 30 000 civilians and left one million homeless.

• 13-15 Feb 1945 Dresden was bombed by 1300 heavy bombers dropping 3900 tonnes of bombs destroying 13 square miles of the city

• By 1945– 300 000 Germans were killed– 800 000 were wounded– 3.6 million homes were destroyed.

Effect of War

• Economy– Lack of food, rationing, clothes production

declined, boots and shoes in short supply, magazines and sweets no longer existed

– Working hours increased, non essetial businesses were closed, many foreigners were used as labour

Role of women

• Women– Caught between the Nazi’s belief of the

traditional role of women and their need for workers.

– German women encountered considerable hardship working in factories or farms and balancing family roles

• Research – Dissent, youth, churches,