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Hitler's Economic Policy How Hitler Transformed the German Economy By Mr Walker www.educationforum.co.uk 18/07/2015 Weimar and Nazi Germany 1 Objectives At the end of this lesson you should be able to: Understand Hitler’s priorities on coming to power Evaluate the Schacht period of economic management 1933-5 Understand the importance of Goering and the 4 year Plan 1936-40 Evaluate the success or otherwise of Nazi economic policy 18/07/2015 Weimar and Nazi Germany 2 Unemployment During the election campaigns Hitler had promised to solve unemployment. This was only one of his aims 18/07/2015 Weimar and Nazi Germany 3 Hitler’s economic priorities 1. Drag Germany out of the world recession 2. Solve unemployment (which he had promised to do) 3. Make Germany an “autarchy” – self sufficient 4. Get rid of Jewish industrialists and give their businesses to “Aryans” 4 Transform the economy to focus on rearmament and war 18/07/2015 Weimar and Nazi Germany 4 Hjalmar Schacht Schacht was President of the Reichsbank who directed German economic policy He believed in steady growth and a stable currency He promoted trade agreements with developing countries trading manufactured goods for cheap raw materials He was against spending out too much on rearmament before the German economy was strong enough His New Plan of 1934 aimed to reduce imports into Germany and to strengthen the currency He fell out with Hitler over the speed of rearmament and was replaced by Hermann Goering in 1936 18/07/2015 Weimar and Nazi Germany 5 Hitler’s Ideas German economy can be converted into a war machine Germany must rearm quickly, conquer countries by Blitzkrieg or lightening war, takeover their economies and move on Conquered countries 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 In 1936 Goering was appointed to introduce a 4 year plan to put Hitler’s ideas into action 18/07/2015 Weimar and Nazi Germany 6 Solving Unemployment How Hitler increased employment Hitler introduced many policies to fulfil his goal of full employment: He stopped paying reparations and invested the money in German companies. He began a huge programme of public works including planting forests, and building hospitals and schools. He also built public buildings such as the 1936 Olympic Stadium. The construction of the autobahns created work for 80,000 men. Rearmament created jobs in the armaments industry. The introduction of national service meant all young men spent six months in the RAD (The labour service in which young men in Germany had to do a six-month compulsory stint), 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. Many Jews were sacked and their jobs given to non-Jews. Many women were sacked and their jobs given to men. 18/07/2015 Weimar and Nazi Germany 7 The aims of the 4 year Plan Speed up rearmament and make Germany ready for war Make Germany self sufficient in raw materials “autarchy” by developing home grown substitutes. In 1933 total money spent on the military was 1.9 million marks by 1939 it was 32.3 million! 18/07/2015 Weimar and Nazi Germany 8 What were the results of this? The size of the German army grew massively Hitler became more confident and started to openly break the Treaty of Versailles Austria 1938 Czechoslovakia 1938 Poland 1939 World war broke out! 18/07/2015 Weimar and Nazi Germany 9 Was the 4 year Plan a success? Unemployment dropped quickly 4.8 million in 1933 to 0.5 million in 1938 Wages rose slightly but were still lower in 1938 than they had been in 1928 Working hours went up to 49 hours per week in 1939 – 52 hours in 1943 to over 60 hours per week by 1945 There were fewer consumer goods (personal and household goods Trade unions were replaced by “Beauty of Labour” and strength Through Joy” who organised better conditions and leisure activities 18/07/2015 Weimar and Nazi Germany 10 Were people better off under the Nazis? Unemployment fell everywhere not just in Germany Some people were forced to work on public works There were disadvantages to SDA and KDF – workers had no representation Workers put more into the economy than they got out If you were “Aryan” and of no strong political beliefs life was relatively good 18/07/2015 Weimar and Nazi Germany 11 Tasks 18/07/2015 1. Research a short case study factfile on Hjalmar Schacht and Herman Goering 2. Following further research answer the question, Was Nazi economic policy a success? Weimar and Nazi Germany 12