Nazi Economy 1933-45:

Question 1

Hitler’s view on economics:

Answer 1

Primacy of politics - political needs were more important than economic needs i.e. rearmament more important than the cost of this.

Question 2

Recovery and move to Autarky: How did the Nazi’s deal with unemployment from the GD? What late-Weimar policy protected Nazi economy?

Answer 2

-They created the RAD labour front for cheap manual labour with poor conditions which increased infrastructure.
-They also took Jews and women(marriage loan for staying at home) off the definition of workforce through the Reinhardt program so it appeared unemployment decreased.
- The GD had hit a low so unemployment was naturally starting to decrease.
-Created around 2.8 million jobs between 33 and 34.

-Bruning negotiated a temporary end to reparations due to the GD.

Question 3

How did the Nazis manage agriculture under Hugenburg?

Answer 3

-Put tariffs on imports to made German produce cheaper and
-banned banks from repossessing
farms.
-Agricultural debts were written off.
-Tax cuts also to give them extra spending money.

Question 4

Agriculture under Darre?

Answer 4

-RNS regulated food produce
- agencies were created to control import
-schemes were created to get women working on farms.
-fined 100000 RM for not conforming with RNS.

Question 5

How much of produce in Germany was German by 1934?

Answer 5

80%

Question 6

How did the Nazis deal with big business?

Answer 6

-
Discouraged big stores which didn’t support the Nazis
-1932 Law for the Protection of the retail trade meant businesses couldn’t expand and therefore suffered.
-Supported by steel industry (IG Farben)

-Tax cuts also to give them extra spending money.
-Hjalmar Schacht as president of Reichsbank to give confidence to these businesses.

Question 7

How did the Nazis deal with workers?

Answer 7

-Made 1st May a socialist holiday to appease workers
- but also created DAF (only union in Germany for workers) which exploited workers as non-members struggled to succeed.
-The DAF was created to keep workers happy as they were a large section of his support.

Question 8

Trade problems 1933-34:

Answer 8

Trade balance crisis as farms weren’t producing enough and workers were buying too much foreign goods.

Question 9

Mefo Bills:

Answer 9

Mefo- private company, allowed government to buy arms and delay repayments.
-The rearmament also created jobs.

Question 10

Schacht Policies to recover trade:

Answer 10

Import quotas: on cotton, wool etc. (no restrictions on military imports e.g. steel)
-Importing goods without a license was illegal.

Trade began with countries such as Ecuador, Brazil, Yugoslavia. This was because:
-Germany was more powerful so could get better deals.

Question 11

New Plan: Success?

Answer 11

-Mostly successful

-Clothing price increased due to textile quotas.
-Living standards worsened due to rearmaments.

Question 12

What happened 1935-36 which was bad for the economy?

Answer 12

Economic crisis as there was a bad harvest period meant that other countries demanded cash for goods .
-They were not yet in a position to do this due to the lack of Autarky progress.
-Shortages of fat and meat.
-rationing was introduced

Question 13

1936-39: What was a command economy?

Answer 13

The state decides how much businesses produce.

Question 14

What was the 4 year plan focussed on under Goering and why was it created?

Answer 14

-created due to the high foreign debts in 1936 and Hitler’s view that war was imminent with the Soviets.
Autarky - synthetic materials created where they couldn’t get the real thing e.g. Rubber was Buna.
-This created new factories which meant more jobs, but this took to long.

Question 15

Why was the Office of the 4 Year Plan created? What did it do?

Answer 15

To solve the guns or butter debate (debate over whether rearmament or gaining the support of the people was more important - they had to keep their promise of ‘work and bread’).
- It was a centralised ministry to control production and
- encourage people to consume less produce.
-German economic policy became more radical once Schacht was gone.

Question 16

Command Economy: Success?

Answer 16

-Success in that it increased annual coal production by 60 million tonnes.
-Steel produce slightly increased - but this steel was more expensive than importing due to the nature of mining and it never met the demands the military needed.

-Failed - by 1938 coal production had fell behind and there was a shortage of labourers to be able to do this.
-Only 20% of artificial oil that was needed was produced in 1939.
-Artificial goods in general were very expensive and rearmament was not going well - aircraft production actually declined - by 1939 they were on the brink of another inflation crisis - only avoided by keeping standard of living low.

Question 17

What was life like for the ordinary worker?

Answer 17

-Wages were regulated which meant people had less extra spending money.
-The strength through joy programme created extra benefits e.g. medical loans, vitamins for mothers.

Question 18

What was standard of living like 1933-39?

Answer 18

-Varied between conformists and ‘undesirables’.
-T4 programme was created to eliminate disabled children, mentally ill or elderly –> 70000 deaths.
-Asocial families sent to Hashude to be ‘re-educated’

Question 19

How did Nazis deal social welfare?

Answer 19

-NSV created to give welfare to those they thought deserved it.
-They gave benefits to mothers and children (used for propaganda purposes) and also
-winter aid e.g. food and clothing.
-RM 2 mill was donated (often by threat)

Question 20

What was the situation of the economy by 1939?

Answer 20

-Germany imported 17% of goods, propaganda created to persuade fish instead of meat.
-Big businesses resented the command economy and
-Germany was not as war ready as it needed to be (6 weeks of ammunition in September 1939)

-Even with this, the government had prevented public outburst against the restrictions on food.

Question 21

1939-45: What was the problem with government administration during ww2?

Answer 21

–Several ministries were created for the same thing e.g. war production had war ministry and army, navy and air force
-None would cede control to others which created rivalries –> Fritz Todt (minister of armaments) couldn’t implement his plans to centralise due to this.
-The government ignored essential advice from engineers.
-Goering had too much power e.g. minister of Prussia, head of the Luftwaffe etc. and couldn’t give all his time to 1 job - he also gave jobs to people who didn’t threaten him rather than give them to people who were talented.
-Many big businesses ignored Goering’s unrealistic quotas. Nazi quotas were impossible to meet e.g. in 1939 Luftwaffe ordered to increase size to 21000 planes - it never exceeded 5000.

Question 22

How did Speer run the economy from 1942?

Answer 22

-Created ‘central planning board’ to organise raw materials and production with new technology and mechanisation due to soldiers going off to fight.
-specialists to advise him.
-Under this, ammunition production increased by 97%
-tanks were needed so production changed accordingly.
-used brutal slave labour for work.

Question 23

How did the economy fail towards the end of the Nazi Regime?

Answer 23

-Allied bombing destroyed factories.
-Land was lost with essential resources e.g. upper Silesia and farming land was destroyed
-so the black market reappeared.
-fuel crisis, lack of arms production.

Question 24

Conclusion:

Answer 24

-Nazi economy was wildly inconsistent and chaotic: it could never pick a priority to focus on and issues like guns and butter were never solved, just endless attempts to compromise which failed both sides. Whilst not as severe as Weimar, it was a failure in that rearmament was never at a full scale combined with Goering’s poor management of the economy.