Nazi Economy 1933-45

Question 1

Summarise the economic situation that the Nazis inherited?

Answer 1

1. No reparations - the Allies agreed at a conference in Lausanne that, because of the Great depression, Germany didn’t have to make payments.
2. Schacht still had to repay foreign loans. In 1934, Germany failed to pay its debts to the USA and trade with America collapsed.

Question 2

What were the Nazis’ economic priorities?

Answer 2

1. Autarky - complete self sufficiency.
2. Unemployment.
3. Agriculture.

Question 3

How did the Nazis tackle unemployment figures?

Answer 3

1. Actually, the Great Depression had hit its lowest point and things were improving anyway - businesses were employing again.
2. They manipulated the statistics by excluding Jews and large numbers of women.
3. They created jobs that paid less than unemployment benefits through RAD schemes.

Question 4

What were RAD schemes?

Answer 4

Reichsarbeitsdienst (Reich Labour Service) - these were schemes for unemployed men and women that provided manual work, very basic food and barracks accommodation for very little money on large infrastructural projects like road building.

Question 5

How effective were RAD schemes?

Answer 5

Tied to increased car and truck building, they helped move goods and raw materials more efficiently. This helped businesses generally, even if the actual number of men employed to build the autobahns didn’t exceed 100K.

Question 6

What did Hugenburg, the minister of agriculture, do to implement Nazi plans for Autarky?

Answer 6

1. Increased import tariffs on agricultural produce - making German produce cheaper.
2. Banned banks from repossessing farms from farmers in debt - to keep them farming.
3. Made margerine manufacturers put butter from German farmers in their margerine.

Question 7

What did Richard Darre - Hugenburg’s replacement do regarding agriculture?

Answer 7

He set up the Reichnaehrstand (RNS) to regulate food production and distribution of farm produce, set prices and farm wages and fine people who didn’t conform.

The RNS also started work-creation schemes that sent people, especially young women, to work on farms as well as on building projects.

Question 8

Were the RNS policies popular?

Answer 8

Not with everyone - not all farmers wanted to be told what to produce and how much to sell it for.

Question 9

Were RNS policies effective?

Answer 9

Yes. In 1928 - 68% of all farm produce provided by German farmers rose to 80% by 1934.

Question 10

Which industries supported the Nazis?

Answer 10

Iron, steel and I.G. Farben (chemicals).

Question 11

Which businesses suffered under the Nazis and why?

Answer 11

Big department stores - because Hitler wanted to reward small businesses for having supported him and also because the bigger businesses saw their exports fall under the Nazis.

Question 12

What law did the Nazis introduce in 1933 which prevented the building of new stores and the expansion of existing ones?

Answer 12

The Law for the Protection of Retail Trade.

Question 13

Why were trade unions a ‘double-edged sword’ for the Nazis?

Answer 13

Because on the one hand, there had been huge problems with up to 36 million lost working days in 1924 due to strikes and lockouts - so bigger businesses were hoping the Nazis would cut the unions down to size.

On the other hand, many workers voted for the Nazis - these workers were hoping the Nazis would ensure work, good conditions and wages.

Question 14

So what did the Nazis do regarding trade unions?

Answer 14

1. They made 1 May a national workers’ holiday (a populist move)
2. They announced there was only ONE union - the Deutsche Arbeits Front (DAF).

Question 15

Why was the introduction of the DAF important?

Answer 15

Membership was ‘voluntary’ - but non-members found it increasingly hard to find work.

The DAF allowed big businesses to exploit workers more by setting their own working conditions.

The DAF became a powerful force as part of the ‘rewards’ system of controlling the people.

Question 16

How did Schacht deal with the twin problem of low foreign trade and the weak German currency?

Answer 16

He created a ‘New Plan’ - which focussed on trade with nearby countries such as Hungary and Yugoslavia (thereby reducing dependence on the USA) and used the exchange of goods rather than paying for imports.

Question 17

Did the New Plan work?

Answer 17

Only until countries started demanding payment in cash, rather than an exchange in goods. For example, Bulgaria started demanding cash, not goods for oil.

Question 18

Why did the Nazis introduce the new Four-Year Plan in 1936?

Answer 18

Germany had not achieved Autarky - they still had to import both raw materials and food. They didn’t want to introduce rationing, but they also had to increase production - hence the Four-Year Plan.

Question 19

What were the foci of the second Four-Year Plan and who was in charge?

Answer 19

Autarky and preparation for war.

Herman Goerring was in charge.

Question 20

Was it a success?

Answer 20

In some areas, yes:

Explosives and coal exceeded their targets and other areas, like steel and iron ore were close.

In some areas no:

Oil was below half its target by 1942. Also, imports were avoided by creating synthetic alternatives (such as ‘Buna’ instead of rubber) but this meant building new factories, which slowed down production.

Military targets were given priority, such as synthetic fuel.

Question 21

Guns or butter?

Answer 21

The phrase reflects the Nazi dilemma - to rearm or to feed the people?

It seems that Hitler always favoured guns - but manipulated the positive effects that rearmament had for ordinary Germans’ lives by reducing unemployment, for example.

Question 22

How did the Nazis use propaganda to help their economic policies?

Answer 22

1. Encouraging people to consume less.
2. Encouraging people to switch from sausages to jam and from meat to fish, for example.

These campaigns had some success (e.g. jam consumption trebled 1928-38).

Question 23

How did living standards change 1933-39?

Answer 23

There developed a sharp divide between conformist ‘pure Germans’ and people the Nazis saw as ‘undesrirable’.

Question 24

What was the T4 programme?

Answer 24

From October 1939, it was a policy to kill disabled children up to 17 years old, elderly people, the mentally ill and chronically sick. Over 70,000 people were killed.

Question 25

What was Hashude?

Answer 25

A ‘re-education’ facility for asocial families (in debt, alcoholic etc).

Question 26

What benefits did the ‘Strength through Joy’ programme provide to the ordinary worker?

Answer 26

Provision of loans, medical care, extra food and vitamins for ‘suitable’ mothers. There was also a fake propaganda opportunity to own a Volkswagon.

Question 27

By 1939, how many block wardens and voluntary workers did the NSV have?

Answer 27

The NSV has over 1 million voluntary workers and 500,000 block wardens.

Question 28

The day after the launch of the NSV, how much was donated to this institution?

Answer 28

2 million Rentenmark was donated. This was largely due to the block wardens wearing SA uniforms and people percieving them as spies on their daily lives.

Question 29

Why was Goering as head of the second four year plan an issue?

Answer 29

After the outbreak of war, departments bagan competing and Hermann Goering as head of the Air Force began to allocate more resources to the Air Force.

Question 30

Did the outbreak of war change Nazi economic policies?

Answer 30

No as the economy was already geared for war.

Question 31

Why was Hitler’s appointment of Fritz Todt as minister of armament and munitions ineffective?

Answer 31

Fitz Todt required centralised control, but other departments were unaccepting, especially Hermann Goering.

Question 32

How ready was Germany for war to break out in 1939?

Answer 32

More than Britain and France, but not as self-sufficient as Hitler had hoped. For example, the army had wanted 4 months’ worth of supplies of ammunition in store, but actually had 6 weeks’ worth.

Question 33

What did Hitler’s memorandum of 3rd December 1941 ask for?

Answer 33

To simplify and improve the armaments industry by:

1. Rationalising needs
2. Updating factories and equipment to produce the most efficient weapons as efficiently as possible
3. Insisting the army, navy and air force kept demands as low as possible.

However, Hitler did NOT adopt Todt’s plans to reorganise and centralise planning of the whole economy.

Question 34

Todt died in a plane crash on…

Answer 34

…8th February 1942.

Question 35

What was the Central Planning Board?

Answer 35

Set up by decree from Hitler on 22nd April 1942, it was headed by Speer (Todt’s replacement) to put the armaments minister in full charge - it distributed raw materials, decided on the building of new factories or the extending of existing ones and organised transportation.

Question 36

What did the CPB do to make the German production of armaments more efficient?

Answer 36

1. Smaller factories shut down and production concentrated in larger ones.
2. Factory machinery standardised - making construction and repair easier.
3. Mass production was more mechanised (relying less on skilled workers, including forced labour/slaves) as more and more workers were conscripted into the army, being replaced by unskilled workers (from 1.4% in 1929 to 13% of workforce in the army by 1944).

Question 37

Were the policies of the CPB effective?

Answer 37

They took time to implement but improvements were spectacular.

Despite the heaving bombing of major German cities by the Allies in 1942-44, production of tanks doubled and aircraft production increased by 80% by 1943. It continued to increase until late 1944, by which time armaments were enough to support double Germany’s army size.

Question 38

What slowed down armament production?

Answer 38

Changing tactics in the war - from early Blitzkrieg, which needed planes, armoured vehicles and tanks, to the Battle of Britain, which required u-boats and longer-range aircraft, back to Operation Barbarossa, which required similar armaments to Blitzkrieg again.

These changes slowed down production.

Question 39

Give an example of the increase in military spending from 1936 to 1943 in millions of marks.

Answer 39

1936 - 11 million marks
1940 - 53 million marks
1943 - 112 million marks

Question 40

What state was the German economy in by 1945?

Answer 40

Overstretched - and war production had been badly affected by:

1. Allied bombing
2. Loss of land producing essential raw materials (e.g. Upper Silesia’s coal)
3. Damage to electricity, gas and water supplies
4. Sabotage by foreign and forced workers

Question 41

What effects did this being overstretched have on the German economy at the end of the Nazi period?

Answer 41

People were starving and the black market took over again, just as it had during and just after WWI. As Allied troops advanced, the German army fell back or deserted and the economy ground to a halt.