Did anyone gain from Nazi rule? - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Did anyone gain from Nazi rule?

1933-39Slide2

Preface

Many German people had suffered during WWI and the Depression. When Hitler came to power, over 6 million people were unemployed. As you can imagine, they welcomed Hitler's economic policies with open arms. The Nazi’s promised to use radical methods to solve the country’s two main problems – desperate unemployment and a crisis in farming. In return for work and other benefits, the majority of German people gave up their political freedom. Was it worth it?

The key here is to understand that the Nazi state affected different people in different ways.   For the majority of people, in fact, life was good - that is why they turned a blind eye to the fact that - for groups which were not accepted by the Nazi state - life was horrific.Slide3

Hitler’s Aims

Drag Germany out of the world depression Solve unemployment

Make Germany an autarky (self-sufficient)

Get rid of Jewish industrialists and give their businesses to 'Aryans'

Transform the economy to focus on rearmament/warSlide4

Hitler’s Economic Policies

Stop paying reparations

Increase government spending

Use propaganda – convince everyone that work was good and that everyone who could work should

Create full employment – everyone should/must have a job

Ban trade unions and give power to the industrialists

Increase hours and decrease wages

Begin re-armamentSlide5

Minister of the Economy was Hjalmar

Sacht

Directed German economy 1933-6. Brilliant economist.

Created the

“New Plan”

of 1934 aimed to reduce imports into Germany, strengthen the currency, and organize Germany’s finances to fund a huge program of work creation.

Promoted trade agreements with developing countries

Was against spending too much on rearmament before German economy was strong enough; replaced by Goering.Slide6

Hermann Goering

German economy can be converted into a war machine

Germany must rearm quickly, conquer countries, takeover their economies and move on

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

Speed up rearmament and make Germany ready for war

Created a

Four-Year Plan

with Hitler to get the German economy ready for war

In 1933 total money spent on the military was 1.9 million marks by 1939 it was 32.3 million.Slide7

Attacking Unemployment

Biggest inherited problem

June 1933, the Nazis passed a Law to Reduce Unemployment

Government spending rose, 1932–38 from about 5 billion to 30 billion marks.

Unemployment fell from over 6 million to virtually nothing

How?

He stopped paying reparations and invested the money in German companies

The Nazi state machinery needed thousands of clerks, prison guards etc.

He began a huge program of public works projects and conservation programs

planting forests, digging ditches

building hospitals, schools, houses, and other public buildings

Huge network of railways, motorways, and autobahns construction of the autobahns created work for 80,000 men.

Trade unions were abolished and men joined the RAD (National Labor Service)Slide8

Attacking Unemployment

The men of the RAD wore a military style uniform, lived in camps near where they were working, and received only what we would term pocket money. However, compared to the lack of success of the Weimar gov and the chronic misery of 1931-32, men felt at least the Nazis were making the effort to improve their lives.

To “protect” workers (since trade unions had been banned), the German Labor Front was set up and lead by Robert Ley.

To an extent, the GLF did this.

However, workers could not leave a job without the governments permissions. Slide9

Farming

Introduced the Reich Food Estate under Richard

Darre

By the 1933 Farm Law, farmers were assured of sales and given subsidies (funding)

Set up central boards to buy products from farmers and distribute it to markets across Germany

Gave farmers guaranteed market for their goods at guaranteed prices

Some resented the regime’s control

Farmers were strictly controlled (e.g., one rule stated that hens must lay 65 eggs a year)

Could not get a loan from any bank

Efficient and non-efficient farmers treated the same, some held backSlide10

Industry & Rearmament

The New Plan of 1934 stopped imports and subsidized industry.   Production rose, especially of oil, steel, coal and explosives.

Re-armament began in 1935

Hitler built up the armed with conscription (the draft)

Introduction of national service meant all young men spent six months in the RAD (Reich Labor Service) and then they were conscripted into the army. By 1939, 1.4 million men were in the army, so they were not counted as unemployed

Rearmament also created jobs in the armaments industry. The soldiers needed equipment, so this set factories back into production.

Businesses were strictly controlled

they could be told to make something different/were not allowed to raise wages/workers could be sent to other factories.

In 1933 total money spent on the military was 1.9 million marks by 1939 it was 32.3 million

Economists

know now that these policies caused massive economic problems. Slide11

“Beauty of Work”

The Nazis set up the “ Beauty of Work” movement to help Germans see that work was

good

and that everyone who could work should.

This scheme improved working conditions in factories and introduced new

features,

such as washing facilities and low-cost canteens.

In fact - because the Nazis had abolished the trade unions, banned strikes, and given more power to the industrialists - real wages fell and hours were longer under Hitler.Slide12

“Strength Through Joy”

The leisure time of the workers was also taken care of

An organization called "Kraft

durch

Freude

" (

KdF

) took care of this. The activities provided by the state were carefully and systematically recorded.

Workers were offered cheap theatre and cinema tickets, and organized courses and trips and sports events, as well as holidays

The

KdF

designed the Volkswagen (or ‘People’s Car’) ‘Beetle’, which it was planned to be able to buy for 5 marks a week.

The government made sure that everybody could get a cheap radio.Slide13

What Nazi propaganda “left out”

Working boosted Hitler’s popularity because their sense of national pride grew. They began to feel like their country was finally emerging from the humiliation of the Great War and the Treaty of Versailles.

Was this all too good to be true?

Went into overdrive to persuade nation and Europe that she had achieved something that other European nations had not during the depression

A number of reasons accounted for the drop in unemployment:

Women were no longer included in the statistics so any woman who remained out of work under the Nazi’s rule did not exist as far as the statistics were concerned. Their jobs were given to men.

The unemployed were given a very simple choice: do whatever work is given to you by the government or be classified as” work-shy” and put into a concentration camp

Jews lost their citizenship in 1934 and as a result were not included in unemployment figures even though almost all lost their employment at the start of Hitler’s time in power. Their jobs were given to “Aryan” men.

Many young men were taken off of the unemployment figure when conscription began/

To equip these men with weapons, etc. factories were built and this took even more off the unemployment figure.

With all this in place, the unemployment figure had to fall

However, if anyone had spoke out against this “book-keeping trick” they would have been too scared to speak out against the NazisSlide14

Autarky

The measures Goering introduced were not completely successful:

Controls were put on imports, but, if anything, imports of luxuries increased.

Farmers were subsidized to produce more food and food imports were reduced.

Overall, the policy of autarky was not a success. Slide15

The “Good Life” in Nazi Germany

For ordinary people, life was good and many Germans even today look back and remember the years before 1939 as happy years

“Every body” had a job and a wage

Nazi economic policy gave full employment prosperity and financial security for many. Many observers stated that there seemed to be no poverty in Germany. To people who had been unemployed and starving, “work and bread” was a wonderful blessing worth any civil liberty they lost.

Strength Through Joy program gave people fun and holidays

Beauty of Work program game people pride in what they were doing

People appreciated public works (new schools and hospitals)

Hitler’s government was strong, unlike the Weimar government, and passed laws quicklySlide16

The “Good Life” in Nazi Germany

Law and order seemed to exist (few people locked their doors)

Autobahns improved transportation

Rallies, frequent ceremonies, and Nazi propaganda gave people hope and confidence

Nazi racial philosophy gave people self-belief

Trust in Adolf Hitler and propaganda gave people a sense of security

Morale was boosted

Germany seemed to be reclaiming its place as a strong country in world affairsSlide17

The Negative Effects

Trade unions were banned and all workers had to join the German Labor Front. They lost their right to strike for better pay or ask for better conditions.

People who refused to work were imprisoned and strikers could be shot

Wages actually fell, while hours increased (49 per week in 1939 and over 60 by 1945)

The Nazis worked closely with the businessmen to make sure that the workforce were as controlled as possible. Gave more power to the industrialists.

All culture had to be German -

eg

music had to be Beethoven or Wagner or German folk songs - or Nazi -

eg

all actors had to be members of the Nazi party/only books by approved authors could be read.

Gender- discrimination against women was encouraged.   Women doctors, teachers and civil servants were forced to give up their careers, and yet they were given medals for the more children they had. Women were never allowed to serve in the armed forces - even during the war.       

From 1933 to 1939, the Nazi government spent more than it earned so that by 1939, its debt stood at over 40 billion marks.

There

were fewer consumer goods.Slide18

The Negative Effects

Minorities were horrifically persecuted

Censorship, education, and propaganda meant people had a distorted and narrow-minded view of events.

Personal

f

reedoms (

speech, press, religion

)

disappeared from the lives of Germans.Slide19

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