Download hitler*s germany, 1929-1939

Hitler’s Germany, 1929-1939
Key issue: To what extent did Germans benefit from Nazi rule in the 1930s?
a) Economic Policy
Hitler had come to power in an economic crisis by promising jobs for the unemployed. Once he
was appointed Chancellor, this became a priority. Hitler and the Nazis spent vast amounts of
public money on job creation schemes. State finances were organised to pay for this by the
talented economist, Dr. Hjalmar Schact. The amount spent doubled between 1933 and 1938.
Hitler intended to build 7,000km of autobahn (motorways). The German Labour Front organised
and directed workers into jobs. These included forestry work, water projects, building new
hospitals, schools and sports stadiums. The organisation of these projects also provided jobs. By
1939, the Labour Front had 44,500 paid officials.
Another of Hitler’s policies was to get rid of the Treaty of Versailles. He started a programme of
rearmament upon taking power, which was officially revealed in 1935. Conscription was also
introduced in this yr. The army grew from 100,000 in 1933 to 1.4 million in 1939. Huge amounts
were spent on producing military equipment such as aircraft and tanks. The increase in military
expenditure also stimulated other industries, such as coalmines, steel and textile mills; this
provided further employment opportunities. Between 1933 and 1939, coal and chemical
production doubled; oil, iron and steel trebled; and iron-ore mining increased 500%. Germans
began to feel that the country was finally emerging from the humiliation of the Great War and
Treaty of Versailles.
Unemployment fell from 5 million in 1933 to 400,000 in 1938 and the Nazis claimed a labour
shortage. However, while the Nazi schemes had been successful, there are some problems in
using these official German statistics. Some groups were not included, such as Jewish people who
were dismissed from their jobs. When the Jews were stripped of their German citizenship, none
of them was counted in the figures. Women who left employment with State financial offers to
get married and raise a family were also omitted, as were the population held in concentration
camps.
Hitler’s aim was to make Germany self-sufficient: autarky. This was a reaction to the Depression
following the 1929 crash and the cost of imports, but also because he remembered the devastating
impact of the British blockade of German ports in the 1st World War. Autarky was the aim of a 4
yr plan announced in 1936. Goering was placed in charge of this. The plan enjoyed limited
success. Agricultural imports fell from 35% to 25% of the total output and German scientists
worked on schemes to produce ersatz (substitute) materials to replace imported products.
Experiments were carried out to produce petrol from coal, and synthetic rubber and wool were
produced in large quantities, but they were more expensive and inferior to the natural product.
However, by 1939 when war broke out, Germany still imported over 30% of the raw materials
the country needed. There was not the quantity of raw materials within existing German borders
for this scheme to work. It became clear to Hitler that the only solution was to take over countries
that produced the raw materials and food needed. The policy of lebensraum (living space)
therefore became closely linked to economic and foreign policy.
Hitler’s economic policies were popular among the German people. The working classes
benefited from the new employment opportunities and everyone began to feel a new sense of
national pride, particularly with the rearmament measures. Farmers and businessmen liked
Hitler’s policies. German farmers, as long as they were Aryan and obedient, enjoyed security of
tenure, easy credit and high prices for their products. Businessmen received huge profitable orders
in return for their contributions to Nazi Party funds. Income tax concessions and loans from the
government also assisted industrial recovery. Rigid control of prices and wages kept inflation in
check. However, it was not simply a ‘Nazi economic miracle’. Hitler was fortunate that the
German economy, like the rest of the world has, was beginning to recover by 1933.
b) Social policy
Many Germans believed that Nazi rule was improving people’s lives; unemployment had been
drastically reduced and few people were starving. Many people appreciated that actions were
being taken to improve their economic situation. From July 1935, it became compulsory for all
German men between the ages of 18 and 25 to do 6 months’ work on practical projects. They
were not paid wages, just pocket money, which was never very popular. However, it did provide
a sense of purpose for the unemployed.
Hitler delivered lower unemployment, which gained him popularity among the industrial
workers. He developed this loyalty with a variety of initiatives. The Strength through Joy (KDF)
organisation was part of the German Labour Front. It attempted to provide leisure time activities.
Holidays and cruises were sold to the workers at a low cost, along with concerts, theatre visits
and sporting events. As part of this movement, Hitler wanted more Germans to have their own
cars. 1,000s saved 5 marks a week in a scheme to buy a Volkswagen Beetle, the ‘people’s car’.
Ferdinand Porsche designed it. No workers ever received their cars as production was halted in
1939 because of the outbreak of war. The Beauty of Labour movement aimed to improve working
conditions in factories, by introducing washing facilities and low-cost canteens. All of these
initiatives enjoyed genuine popularity. However, there was a price to pay. Workers had lost their
trade unions and they could not strike for better pay and conditions. In some areas, workers were
prevented from moving to better-paid jobs by the DAF. Wages were comparatively low, although
prices were strictly controlled. Working hr increased and by the late 1930s, some workers
grumbled that their standard of living was still lower than in the 1920s.
During the mid-1930s, many Germans were pleased with the effects of Nazi policies.
Unemployment had fallen and national pride was rising. This was particularly boosted by the
1936 Olympic Games. When Hitler moved troops into the demilitarised Rhineland in 1936,
Germans felt more secure from attack. Pride grew dramatically with the Anschluss (union of
Austria and Germany in 1938). These events helped Hitler in his aim of achieving a sense of
national community or Volksgemeinschaft. He wanted people to see themselves as Germans, not
as members of a social class or profession. Hitler wanted people to be so proud of belonging to
such a great nation, that they would put the country’s needs before their own.
The effects of Nazi policies on the lives of women
The Nazis preferred women to stick to what was seen as their ‘natural’ occupations of being wives
and mothers. ‘Kinder, Kirche and Küche’ summed up Nazi attitudes towards women (Children,
Church and Kitchen). Propaganda posters displayed images of the ideal Nazi family.
The Nazis were worried about the falling birth rate and wanted to expand the population of
‘racially-pure’ Aryans. Incentives were introduced to encourage women to have children. For
example, the Law for the Reduction of Unemployment in June 1933 introduced interest-free loans
of up to 1,000 Reichmarks for young married couples on the condition that the wife gave up work.
A ¼ of the debt was cancelled each time a child was born. The most productive mothers were
awarded special medals at a ceremony every yr on the birthday of Hitler’s mother. Those who
had 8 children were awarded the ‘Gold Cross’. Laws against abortion were strictly enforced.
From 1936, the Nazis opened special maternity homes designed to be breeding centres for pure
Aryan children, where racially approved mothers were matched with SS men.
German women who held positions of responsibility were sacked from their jobs. This happened
to 1,000s of female doctors and civil servants in 1933. The no. of female teachers was gradually
reduced. From 1936, women could no longer be judges or serve on juries.
There were even campaigns to affect the way women dressed and looked. Hair should be worn
in plaits or a bun; not dyed or permed. Make-up and trousers were discouraged. Slimming was
discouraged as women had to capable of healthy child rearing.
However, the Nazis did not always manage to successfully implement their ideas on women. The
priority given to rearmament meant that there was a shortage of building materials for houses.
Young couples wishing to have a large family could not always afford a suitable house. In the
later 1930s, when there was a shortage of workers, more women re-entered the workplace. In
1937, the Nazis had to change their marriage loans scheme so that women could continue
working.
The effects of Nazi policies on German culture
The Nazi regime was totally opposed to the culture, which had developed in Weimar Germany
in the 1920s. In this period, Berlin was famous for its exciting nightlife and the film industry
entered a golden age. The Weimar constitution had allowed free expression of ideas; writers,
poets and artists flourished. Hitler saw this as an immoral time. During the Nazi dictatorship,
culture was restricted through censorship and propaganda. Modern art was dismissed as
‘degenerate’. American music was banned, including jazz, which was targeted as being ‘black’
music. Some artists, authors and scientists emigrated, including Albert Einstein.
Even discounting the claims of Nazi propaganda, the regime did become popular. The skilful
propaganda was 1 reason for this, but another was that Hitler had fulfilled his promises. Germany
was given strong leadership, unemployment disappeared, big business received contracts and
Germany rearmed, moving from triumph to triumph in foreign affairs. He had also dealt with the
‘threat’ from Jews and Communists. The majority of the population seemed willing to accept
their loss of freedom in return for these benefits. The negatives – political, social and cultural –
only became prominent in some people’s minds in the later 1930s, when the Nazis had achieved
totalitarian control.
c) Racial Persecution
Hitler had made his ideas about race clear before taking power. These appeared in his book, Mein
Kampf, as well as in speeches, pamphlets and posters. Hitler thought that the Jews were an
inferior race and that Aryans were the superior race. He claimed that the Jewish people had joined
with Communists to cause Germany’s defeat in the 1st World War.
When Hitler came to power in 1933, there were 500,000 Jews in Germany, less than 1% of the
total population. Some of these had important positions in society in businesses and the
professions. Some worked as doctors, lawyers and bankers. Hitler used propaganda to claim that
they were running society and the economy.
Hitler had no timetable set out for actions against the Jews; the policy evolved in stages.
 April 1933 – Official 1 day boycott of Jewish shops, lawyers and doctors throughout Germany.
After this, members of the SA stood outside shops and prevented customers from entering.
 June 1933 – Jewish people banned from the civil service, teaching, broadcasting and
newspapers.
 1934 – Anti-Jewish propaganda increased.
 Sep 1935 – The Nuremburg Laws provided legal restrictions on Jewish people. These
included:
- The Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour: this banned marriages and sexual
relations between Jews and Aryans.
- The Reich Citizenship Law stripped Jewish people (this was defined as anyone with 1 or more
Jewish grandparents) of their German citizenship. They were now ‘subjects’ of the Reich, which
gave them fewer rights.
 1936 – A lull in the persecution of the Jews during the Berlin Olympic Games. Anti-Jewish
slogans were removed from the streets and Jewish shops and businesses.
 Sep 1937 – Many Jewish businesses were seized.
 June-July 1938 – Jewish doctors, dentists and lawyers were forbidden to treat Aryans.
 Oct 1938 – Jews had to have a red letter ‘J’ stamped on their passports.
 Nov 1938 – Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass). This happened after a young Jewish
man shot and killed a German embassy official in Paris. Josef Goebbels urged a wide scale
and brutal response. He announced that there should be demonstrations against the Jews on
9th Nov. The violence that this encouraged led to the attacking of 8,000 Jewish shops and
homes and most of the synagogues in Germany. About 100 Jewish people were killed and
over 20,000 were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Much of the property damaged on
Kristallnacht was rented from German owners. The Nazis fined the Jewish community 1
billion Reichmarks to repair the damage. Any remaining Jewish businesses were confiscated
and Jewish children were only allowed to attend Jewish schools. Jewish people were expected
to do the worst jobs and German people were encouraged to treat them badly. This was even
more so after the Anschluss and the policies extended into Austria.
By 1939, Jewish people found it impossible to earn a living or obtain even basic supplies for
living. It was difficult to get food, clothing and medicine and they became social outcasts. In
1939, Jewish people were officially encouraged to emigrate. Not all could afford to do so, or get
visas. The 1st mass arrests of Jewish people took place in Mar 1939. Nearly 30,000 Jewish men
and boys were sent to concentration camps at this time.
The Nazis also acted against other groups who were seen as undesirable. Gypsies were unpopular
in German society because they did not have regular jobs and moved around. Many Germans
were happy when the Nuremburg Laws were extended to gypsies. They were increasingly
persecuted in the later 1930s. Other people, such as beggars, the homeless, prostitutes and
homosexuals were rounded up and sent to concentration camps for hard labour.
Those with physical disabilities or mental handicaps were seen as a threat to Aryan superiority if
they were allowed to have children. A law was passed in July 1933 to allow compulsory
sterilisation. This law was used for people with depression, epilepsy, blindness, deafness and
physical disabilities. By 1937, almost 200,000 sterilisations had been performed on men and
women. In 1939, a euthanasia or ‘mercy killing’ programme began. Mentally handicapped babies
or children were killed by injection or allowed to starve to death.
The mistreatment of Jews and other ‘undesirable’ groups got worse very quickly after the war
started in Sep 1939. In Germany, all Jews were ordered to wear the Star of David on their clothing
to mark them out. After defeating Poland, Polish Jews were rounded up and transported to the
major cities. They were herded into sealed areas, called ghettos. The able-bodied Jews were used
for slave labour but the young, the old and the sick were simply left to die from hunger and
disease. In Dec 1941, Germany invaded the USSR. German forces had order to round up and
shoot Jewish people. Special SS units, called Einsatzgruppen, carried out the shooting. By the
autumn of 1941, mass shootings were taking place all over occupied Eastern Europe.
In Jan 1942, senior Nazis met at Wannsee, a suburb of Berlin, for a conference to discuss what
they called the ‘Final Solution’ to the ‘Jewish Question’. At the Wannsee Conference, Himmler,
head of the SS and Gestapo, was put in charge of the systematic killing of all Jews within
Germany and German-occupied territory. Slave labour and death camps were built at Auschwitz,
Treblinka, Chelmno and other places. The old, the sick and young children were killed
immediately. The able-bodied were 1st used as slave labour. Some were used for appalling
medical experiments. 6 million Jews, 500,000 European gypsies and countless political prisoners,
Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals and Russian and Polish prisoners of war were sent to these
camps to be worked to death, gassed or shot.
d) The effect of the 2nd World War on the civilian population: bombing, rationing & propaganda
In 1939, Germany went to war. In Sep 1939, rationing was introduced for most foodstuffs and
for other items. Extra rations were given to workers in heavy industries, expectant or
breastfeeding mothers, and those who were ill. Because of rationing, 2 out of 5 Germans ate better
than before the war! However, the diet became increasingly monotonous – vegetables with black
rye bread, small amounts of meat and butter and a single egg each week. Clothes rationing was
introduced in Nov 1939. There was a complicated points system and some items such as shoes
and winter coats were almost impossible to buy. The 1st 2 yr of the conflict went well for
Germany; as Germany conquered other countries, food and luxury goods such as dresses, furs
and perfumes were imported and could be bought on the black market.
In June 1941, Hitler ordered an invasion of the Soviet Union; this was a massive gamble. He was
hoping for a lightning victory, as he had achieved in Western Europe. Instead, he became bogged
down in 4 yr long battle, which tore the heart out of his army. By the end of 1942, Germany’s
war was going badly. New hospital trains brought 1,000s of wounded Germans home from the
war in the USSR. People got more used to seeing wounded soldiers and women in mourning.
Various propaganda campaigns were launched to keep up morale and encourage people to support
the war effort. Goebbels claimed that, because of this, between Dec 1941 and Jan 1942, Germans
gave 1.5 million furs and 67 million woollen garments to help the Germany army in Russia. Other
campaigns urged people to save fuel, work harder and even try to avoid tooth decay. At this stage
in the war, the German people began to hear and see less of Hitler. Goebbels broadcast his old
speeches, but Hitler was increasingly preoccupied with the detail of war. Extra food rations were
given out at Xmas 1942 to help keep up morale.
By 1943, it was clear that the war was not going Germany’s way any longer. In Aug 1943, clothes
rationing was suspended and the manufacture of civilian clothing was ended. Exchange centres
were opened where people could swap furniture and clothes. Propaganda continued to try to
encourage people to keep supporting the war effort. In June 1943, Goebbels commissioned the
film Kolberg, which told of heroic German resistance to Napoleon in 1807. It was 1st shown in
Jan 1945.
The 1st air raid on Berlin had been in Aug 1940. By 1942, the raids were more frequent and more
intense. At the same time, the no. of doctors available to treat victims declined. As air raids
worsened, many Germans left the cities and were evacuated to villages or rural towns, such as
Northeim. 1 attack on Hamburg in 1943 led to a firestorm which wiped out large areas of the city.
30,000 people died. The emergency services tried to supply food and shelter but after 3 days, the
services collapsed under the pressure. The government had to step in and build emergency
accommodation for the air-raid victims.
By July 1944, Allied armies were pushing the Germans back in the west and in the east. In early
1945, some of the extreme air raids began. In 2 nights of bombing up to 150,000 people in
Dresden were killed as Allied bombers destroyed 70% of the properties in the city. By the end of
the war, almost as many German civilians had been killed in bombing as German soldiers had
died in combat.
The Nazi administration could not cope with destruction on this scale. By early 1945 government,
plans were in chaos. Ration cards were no longer honoured. Instead, people relied on the black
market or scavenged for food.
e) The impact of the 2nd World War on the German economy
By 1939, the economy had revived under the Nazi regime’s control, but economic self-sufficiency
had not been achieved. Weak spots remained in finance and in shortages of labour and raw
materials. However, the 1st yr of the war went unbelievably well for Hitler. In 12 months, the
German army swept through eastern and Western Europe, meeting very little resistance. The 1st
conquests quickly brought extra food and riches back to Germany.
As the tide began to turn against the German armies after 1941, the economy worsened. Civilians
had to work longer hr and cut back on heating. From 1942, Albert Speer began to direct
Germany’s war economy. All effort focused on the armament industries. In Mar 1943,
professional sport was ended and magazines not important to the war effort were closed. The
German economy became much more efficient, but allied bombing destroyed factories and
transport links. Rivalry between leading Nazis also made it difficult for Speer to get things done.
With most men in the armed forces, there was a severe shortage of workers. More women were
drafted into the labour force. In the concentration camps, Jews and political prisoners were
worked to their deaths to supply the demands of the German war effort. Millions of captured
foreign workers and prisoners of war were also forced to work in factories and on farms. By May
1944, there were over 7 million such people. Those from France, Belgium and Holland were
given a certain amount of freedom, but workers from Russia and Poland were treated as slaves.
By July 1944, Allied armies were pushing the Germans back in the west and east. Refugees
poured into Germany from the areas being regained by the Allies. Goebbels was appointed Reich
Trustee for Total War and he prepared to mobilise Germany for 1 final effort to win the war. All
non-German servants and all workers went into the armaments factories. To save fuel, railways
and postal services were reduced and letterboxes were closed. All places of entertainment were
closed, except for cinemas, which were still needed to show propaganda films. The age limit for
compulsory labour for women was raised to 50.
In May 1945, in Berlin, Hitler, Goebbels and other Nazi leaders committed suicide. The war and
the Nazi regime were over, but at an appalling cost in human lives and after yr of unimaginable
suffering for millions of people.