Chapter 5 - Nazi Economic, Social and racial Policy

The RAD (Reichsarbeitsdienst)

From 1935 it was compulsory for all men aged 18-25 to serve in the RAD for 6 months

1939 it was extended to women

'educate German youth in the spirit of National Socialism'

Workers lived in camps, wore uniforms, received low pay and carried out military drills

Invisible unemployemnt

official unemployment figures didn't include Jews dismissed from their jobs, unmarried men under 25 (RAD), women who gave up their jobs to get married, opponents of the Nazi party in concentration camps

Volkswagen scheme

Strength through Joy - Kraft durch Freude (KDF)

Organisation set up by the German Labour Front to replace trade unions

10 million people went on KDF holidays in Germany in 1938

The role of women

Women over the age of 20 were given the vote and took an increasing interest in politics. By 1933, one tenth of the members of the Reichstag were female

Many women took up careers in the professions, especially the civil service, law, medicine and teaching. Those who worked in the civil service earned the same as men. By 1933 there were 100,000 female teachers and 3,000 doctors

Socially, women went out unescorted, drank and smoked in public, were frequently slim and fashion conscious. They often wore relatively short skirts, had their hair cut short and wore makeup

1933 - law for the Encouragement of Marriage was introduced - aimed to increase Germany's fallen birth rate - gave loans to young couples to marry provided the wife left her job

Mother's cross - awarded to women with large families

childless marriage - seen as worthless by Nazis

Lebensborn - donate a baby by becoming pregnant by 'racially pure; SS men

1938 - more than 150,000 people had ordered a car

The Hitler Youth movement

from 1936 membership of the Hitler Youth was compulsory

1939 - 7 million members

The treatment of the Jews

Hitler believed in a pure Aryan race

Kristallnacht

100 Jews killed and 20,000 sent to concentration camps

9th - 10th November 1938

Aftermath

Jews were fined 1 million Reichsmarks as compensation

30th April 1939 - Jews were forced from their homes and forced into ghettos

Persecution of the Jews

Nazi ideals

According to Nazis, women should

not wear makeup

not smoke

take no interest in politics

blonde, heavy hipped and athletic

not go to work

Controlling education

Textbooks were rewritten to fit the Nazi view of history and racial purity - Mein Kampf became a standard text

School teachers had to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler and join the Nazi Teachers' League

Lessons began and ended by students saluting and saying 'Heil Hitler'

Nazi themes were presented in each lesson

School curriculum was changed to prepare students for their future roles - 15 per cent of the time was dedicated to p.e

The Catholic Church

Hitler saw the Catholic Church as a threat to Nazi state

The treatment of Jews

Treated as second class citizens

Hitler's theory of race was based on the idea of 'Master Race' and the 'Subhumans' - tried to back this up by saying that the Bible showed there were only two races - Jews and Aryans

Nazi propganda portrayed Jews as evil - Hitler regarded Jews as an evil force and was convinced that they were here to destroy civilisation

Selective breeding - preventing anyone who didn't conform to the Aryan type from having children