Economic

• DAF (Nazi trade union) set up

  1933
• 1933- Reich Trustees of Labour set up, 12 for whole country regulating working conditions
• 1933- Law to continue building autobahns (started by Weimar)
• 1933- Law to Reduce Unemployment (1st Reinhardt Programme)

  1. Women given marriage loan (vouchers to spend on household goods)

  2. Agriculture debts reduced/written off
• 1933- 2nd Reinhardt Programme

  1. Government provide incentives (tax relief + loans) if they create jobs

  2. Reich Entailed Farm Law set up, 700,000 farms to be given to German farmers
• 1933- Reich Food Estate set up
• 1933- Law for constitution of German Craft Trades, skilled workers have to be properly trained and members of a Nazi-run trade guild
• 1935

  • Conscription to military & rearmament announced
  • RAD compulsory b/w 19-25, had to live in state labour camps
  • DAF given responsibilities for ‘Strength Through Joy’ and ‘Beauty of Labour’-persuade employees of good working conditions)
• Factoring improving economy after 1933

  • Autobahns- created jobs through RAD & improves communications, helping more goods & raw materials move more efficiently
  • Economic prospective (GDP)economy had already reached its lowest point, improvement was therefore inevitable
  • DAF- could control working conditions for employers
  •  Rearmament- increased employment
• Nazi actions improving businesses

  • Some department stores made 80% less in 1934 than 1929 due to 1933 Law for Protection of Retail trade (stopped building new stores & expanding existing ones) due to small businesses supporting Hitler
  • Lost money, but spending less due to cheap employment (RAD)
  • Iron & stell big businesses (I.G Farben) supports Hitler
  • Most big store owners hadn’t supported Hitler- Suffered due to small business measures
• Nazi control of statistics

  • Women discouraged, married women left/were sacked didn’t count in statistics
  • Jews not allowed to work, taken out of workforce statistics
• Nazi unemployment actions

  • Road building schemes created work & improved communications
  • Reich Labour Service (RAD) scheme for unemployed provided manual labour (less pay than unemployment pay)
  • Temporary work for the unemployed
• Nazi actions for unions

  • DAF made it possible to exploit workers (could set own working conditions)
  • 1933- only 1 union (German Labour Force/DAF)
  • 1st May made an official holiday (Traditional socialist workers day) in 1933
  • Joining was ‘voluntary’ but became difficult for non-members to find work
• Actions for autarky

  1. 1928 German farms=68% of all farm produce in country, 80% by 1934

  2. Darre set up Reich Food Estate

  3. RNS regulated food production & distribution of farm produce, set prices & wages (could be fined for not conforming)

  4. Agri reforms by Minister of agri Hugenberg. Made margarine manufacturers put butter from German farms in their margarine

  5. Banned banks, repossessing farms from farmers in debt, to keep them farming

  6. Increased import tariffs on agri produce, making German produce cheaper

  7. Work creation schemes sent people to work on farms & building projects
• Countries demanding cash (to recover from Wall Street Crash) in exchange of goods- not their goods- As Germany's trade shifted to SE Europe (e.g. Bulgaria demanded cash for their oil)

  1935
• By 1935, countries demanding cash (to recover from Wall Street Crash) in exchange of goods- not their goods- As Germany's trade shifted to SE Europe( e.g. Bulgaria demanded cash for their oil)
• Germany not self-sufficient by 1936, rearmament & work creation meant still needed to import raw materials (state had high foreign debts because of these imports)
• Growing shortage of fats & meats- still needed to import food (to cut consumption -w/o introducing unpopular rationing & press for higher production- kept borrowing low as possible by discouraging eating meat)
• Shifting towards command economy to prepare for war (1936), led to debt
• 1st four-year plan (created by Schacht)

  Extended prematurely
• The Second Nazi Four-Year plan

  ·Raw materials Germany couldn’t produce replaced w/ German-manufactured synthetic alternatives, e.g. rubber replaced by synthetic ‘Buna’

  ·Building new factories for synthetics

  ·Synthetic fuel (though had slow results as process was new & tonnes of coal needed)

  ·Synthetic fuel essential for military transport

  ·Attempt to have central control over everything & re-educate people to eat less (especially meat & fat) to be patriotic

  · Coal increased by 129% in 1942 compared to 1936

  ·Iron increased by 183% in 1942 compared to 1936
• First Four-Year Plan 1933-35

  • Government intervention (agricultural debts reduced/written off, DAF)
  • Work regeneration (conscription, RAD, autobahns)
• Second Four-Year Plan 1936-39

  • Autarky (command economy, real wages increased from 1928)
  • Rearmament (cost of living decreased from 1928)
• Government spending on:

  ·Rearmament

  ·Increasing army size

  ·RAD & motorways

  ·National self-sufficiency (making petrol out of coal)
• Evidence life improved for ordinary German

  ·Unemployed dropped & real wages rose (according to Nazi stats)

  ·‘Strength Through Joy’ programme provided many extra provisions of loans, medical care & extra food and vitamins for ‘suitable’ mothers
• Reasons statistics were misleading

  ·Wages regulated so people didn’t spend too much (industry geared towards war production, not consumables)

  ·Only improved real wages if working overtime

  ·Didn’t include military or RAD in stats, as well as sacked Jews and women

  ·Volkswagen never came to people for KdF
• 1939- German imports were 1/3 of raw materials. Almost self-sufficient in vegetables and meat, and self-sufficient in grain and potatoes
• 1942- only brown coal targets had been met
• 1933- Strength through joy created
• Over 10.3 million holidays provided by KdF
• DAF membership- 5 million (1933) to 22 million (1939)
• 1939- RAD extended to women
• Unemployment- 5.6 million to 1.6 million

  Real wages- increased by 7.5%
• 5 times more spent on rearmament
• army size- 100,000 (1933) to 1.4 million (1939)
• 1938- conscription for 18-25 for 2 years
• Hindered progress of four-year plans

  ·Consumer spending & other activities reduced due to shift to war economy (less is more)Hindered progress to four-year plans

  ·Office of 4yr plan often competed w/army, navy, air force & ministry for resources- Goering (ran 2nd one) also in charge of air force & often favoured the latter

  ·Military still far from ideal conditions set by Fuhrer (to be in state of security)

  · Feb 1940- Todt promoted to minister of armament & munitions
• Before the war

  Control of raw materials was controlled by the office of the Four-Year Plan

  Businesses were encouraged to create jobs and build new factories

  Under 3% of workforce was in the army

  Goering in control of supplies from the Four-Year Plan
• After the war

  • Goes to Central Planning board, controlled by imports
  • Factory machinery was standardised to one part of the weaponry, making construction and repair easier -> 1942 monthly production of searchlights went from 20 to 80 in 1943 & then 150 (1944)
  • 1944 Production almost 3x that in 1940
  • Skilled workers replaced by less skilled women & foreign workers, conscripted into armed forces->1944, 13% workforce in army
  • Hitler was in complete control
• 1938- food imports down by 20%