Effects of Nazi Rule on Germany

WHAT WAS LIFE LKE UNDER THE NAZI REGIME?

ECONOMIC POLICIES

• Economic Policies:– Nazis introduced a four-year plan:

• To move Germany towards ‘autarky’ or economic independence.

– Stopped imports and provided subsidies for industry.

• More importantly, it was a way to prepare Germany for war.

• Factories were set up to produce arms and ammunition.

• Production rose for explosives, coal and steel

ECONOMIC POLICIES

• Agricultural reforms:– Set up the ‘Reich Food Estate’ – To regulate

production, distribution, prices of crops and animals.• Strict control of farmers – One law stated that hens must lay

65 eggs a year!

– Meant that the government could control food production.

– Food prices were maintained at 1928 levels.– 1933 Farm Law – Farmers assured of sales and

subsidies.

ECONOMIC POLICIES• Employment:

– In June 1933, the Nazis passed a Law to Reduce Unemployment.

– The RAD (National Labour Service) sent men on public works; eg the autobahns.

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

– Unemployment fell from nearly 6 million to virtually nothing.

– Suppressed trade unions and set up the German labour front or the DAF.

– Hitler built up the armed forces (e.g. conscription took 1 million unemployed).

– The soldiers needed equipment, so this set steel mills, coal mines and factories back into production. The Luftwaffe gave jobs to fitters, engineers and designers.

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

SOCIAL POLICIES• Women:

– Nazis saw the role of women as good mothers who were responsible for bringing up their children at home, while husbands worked.

– The Law for the Encouragement of Marriage gave newly-wed couples a loan of 1000 marks, and allowed them to keep 250 marks for each child they had.

– Mothers who had more than 8 children were given a gold medal.

– But not all women were happy with the Nazi regime:

– Job-discrimination against women was encouraged. Women doctors, teachers and civil servants were forced to give up their careers.

– Women were never allowed to serve in the armed forces - even during the war.

CHILDREN AND YOUTHS

• Nazis saw the need to cultivate hardworking, obedient and healthy Aryan citizens for the future:– Exerted control over children’s lives – e.g.

toys, exposure to propaganda.– Exerted control over schools and curriculum. – Creation of Hitler Youth:

• Further exposed children to the ‘cult’ of Adolf Hitler.

• Provided activities for boys.• Treated boys and girls as special.• Created fear amongst parents that their children

would report them to the Gestapo.• Many of these youths would eventually end up

in the German Army during the Second World War.

PROPAGANDA

• Germans were subjected to constant stream of propaganda under the control of Josef Gobbels.

• Glorified Hitler and the Nazis and also used to indoctrinate people and justify Nazi policies.

• Use of all forms of media such as the radio, movies, posters and even stamps to put their message across.

• Censorship of other sources of news.

One People, One Nation, One Fuhrer. 1938

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Anti-Jewish Poster


Anti-Communist Poster


STATE TERROR

• Nazis had full control over the state apparatus:– SS as the main security force – suppression of the

SA. – Gestapo – The secret police– Concentration camps– Network of informants – Block Warden System.

• By 1935, most of the Nazis’ opponents were imprisoned or killed.

ANTI-SEMITISM

• Jewish people were persecuted in an increasingly organised manner:– Anti-Jewish laws.– Discrimination against Jewish people

• ‘Crystal Night’ or Kristallnacht – Organised Nazi attack against Jews.

EFFECTS ON THE GERMAN PEOPLE

• Nazi party members:– Benefited the most from the rule.

• Ordinary German people:– Benefits:

• Full employment;• Strength through joy programme: Free holidays, sports facilities,

subsidised cars.• Law and order.• Improved transportation network• Nazi propaganda gave hope• Trust in Hitler• Nazi racial philosophy gave Germans a sense of self-belief.

– Problems:• Loss of freedom• Low wages


• Women:– Not all women liked the Nazi emphasis which

consigned them to “Church, Children, Cooker’– Many professionals who were female, e.g. lawyers

and doctors were forced to give up their jobs.• Youth:

– Nazi’s approach did not appeal to all youths, eventually led to the formation of youth gangs who rejected Nazi culture and the Hitler Youth.

– Some “Aryan” girls were sent to special camps to breed with “Aryan” boys.


• Opponents:– Hitler banned all Trade Unions on 2 May

1933. – Communists were arrested or killed.– Religious leaders, e.g. Protestant pastors

were persecuted and killed.– Many of those who showed unhappiness or

opposed Hitler were reported to the Gestapo and arrested.

EFFECTS ON THE GERMAN PEOPLE.

• The Untermensch or the ‘Sub Human’– Jews persecuted, sent to the concentration camps.– Gypsies also treated as badly as the Jews. 85% of

German gypsies were killed.– Black people were sterilised and killed.– Mentally disabled were also killed.– Physically disabled were sterilised.– Anti-social elements, e.g. criminals, prostitutes,

alcoholics, pacifists were all put into concentration camps.

EFFECTS OF NAZI RULE• Many people did benefit from Nazi rule and preferred

the stability offered by Nazi rule compared to the instability of the Weimar Republic.

• However, Nazi rule involved much persecution and rule through state terror and the loss of personal freedom.

• Nazi rule also subjected the German people to indoctrination through propaganda and the various Nazi organisations such as the Hitler Youth.

• Minorities were subject to persecution by the Nazis.

• Nazi rule set Germany on a collision course with the rest of the world in World War 2.

Effects of Nazi Rule on Germany

Economy & Finance

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