Nazi

Economics

Goals and Ideologies

The Situation in 1933

6 million unemployed (34% of workers)

Reparations temporarily suspended – nobody will lend Germany money

Nazis elected promising “Work and Bread”

What should their major goals be?

Unemployment, 1933-39

0

1000000

2000000

3000000

4000000

5000000

6000000

7000000

Series1 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939

Series2 6,014,000 3,773,000 2,974,000 2,520,000 1,853,000 1,052,000 302,000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Economic Ideology Hitler wasn’t an economic ideologue – he

wanted to strengthen the economy

Major principles:

Anti-Communism

No particular concern for the rich

Government above everything – no individual rights

Hitler’s Economic Policies

Public WorksAutarky

NationalizationStrength through Joy

RAD – National Labor Service

Gave men jobs in public work schemes

Had to wear a uniform & live in camps

Given free meals and pocket money

Built drainage ditches, schools, a new network of motorways and planted new forests.

Predict: What were Hitler’s aims for RAD?

Kick-start the economy

Build impressive buildings to encourage nationalism

Improve the transport network for industrial and military use

Improve living conditions for Germans

Other Employment Measures

Fired Jews from civil service (government) jobs

Fired women and gave their jobs to men

Expanded the military

“Non-productive” people were arrested and put into concentration camps

People who refused RAD jobs

Mentally ill people

Disabled people

Unemployed Jews, women, and others were not counted towards unemployment numbers

Autarky

Autarky: national self-sufficiency

Why would Hitler want Germany to be able to rely on its own food and materials, instead of importing them?

Valuable in times of war

Germany lost WWI because it ran out of war materials and food

Scientists developed replacements for natural resources that Germany didn’t have

Why emphasize building cars?

Low-cost cars helped keep Germans happy

Created jobs in other industries

Steel

Glass

Rubber

Leather

Could easily be switched to military production

“The People’s Car”

Nationalizing Industry

Nationalization = government takeover of private businesses

Gave the government control over:

Production (allowed focus on the military)

Workers (and labor unions)

Employment

Private businesses could still exist – if they did what the government told them to do

Confiscated or banned most Jewish-owned businesses

Labor Rights Unions banned in 1933 – why?

Hitler believed they advocated communism

Possible source of resistance to Hitler

All Germans joined one union – the German Labor Front (DAF)

Increased work hours

Frozen wages

No voice for workers

“Strength through Joy” (KfD)

Provided workers with recreation opportunities

For the workers:

Cheap cruises and vacations

Health clubs

Sports

Theatre and movies

For the government:

Control over workers’ free time

Built support for the government

Women and the Family

Weimar Germany was a relatively good place for women

Education

Voting rights

Employment opportunities

Nazi Germany emphasized the “three K’s” for women

Kinder (children)

Kriche (church)

Küche (kitchen)

Women and the Family

1933 Unemployment Relief Act – loan for couples who got married if the woman left her job

Mother’s Cross (1938) – given to women who had many children

Abortion banned for healthy mothers

Women were banned from working:

1921 – in the Nazi Party

1933 – in professional jobs

1936 – as judges, prosecutors, or jury members