The Workers in Germany.

  1. 4 year Plan.

Hitler made many promises to help the economy after the great depression, part of this was two 4 year plans.

  • 1st. Dr Schacht. Hitlers first minister of the economy, established his New Plan in 1933.

The aim was to get Germany out of economic depression and tried to increase German production

It prioritised government resources on industry and cut welfare spending as well as introducing trade agreements
( e.g with Hungary) that were rigorously controlled.

This only lasted 2 years as Hitler wanted a more dramatic transformation.

  • Hitler appointed Hermann Goring as his second minister of economy. He came up with the Goring new plan in 1936.

His job was to make Germany self-sufficient within four years. They wanted to achieve autarky to ensure Germanys economy was self-reliant so it wouldn't be vulnerable to economic blockades by opponents during war. He introduced several measure to help this happen.

Production of ersatz (i.e. synthetic substances for materials in short supply). Coal was used to make oil and rubber. Acorns to manufacture coffee. Paper pulp to produce fabric and flour to create makeup.

Building huge industrial complexes, called the Hermann Goring Works ( for eg mining and metal- works)

  1. Tackling unemployment.

Unemployment was tackled by creating massive public work programmes, such as building the autobahns (motorways). This created millions of jobs and it was a success as it gets them off the unemployment register. However pay was poor.

They set up two things to help decrease unemployment.

  • 1st- all men aged 18-25 were made to join the RAD (Reich labour service) for 6 months. They did manual labour such as tree felling and ditch digging,
  • 2nd- set up the DAF (German labour front). It controlled the workers act and settled disputes between them and their employers. It persuaded employers to improve working conditions. They lost rights e.g. to strike and leave a job. It replaced trade unions that Hitler shut down.
  1. The DAF.

The DAF came up with schemes to keep workers on side and show they're doing something to help workers. The head of the DAF was Dr Robert Ley.

  • 1st scheme- KDF (strength through joy). Organised leisure time for workers, it provided them with cheap theatre tickets. Skiing holidays and saving for VW Beetles.
  • 2nd scheme- SDA (beauty of labour). Tried to improve working conditions and make work more pleasant. They would help with ventilation and maybe set up radios to listen to while working.
  1. Build up to WW2.
  1. The government.

The government took control of prices, wags, profit and imports(everyday businesses) to stop big businesses from taking over from running affairs in their own way.

Hitler wanted to take control.

e.g. he took control of wages because he didn't want companies that were doing well to pay more, this caused lots of animosity. he took control of imports, if people imported foreign goods too much because they were cheaper, this could case German businesses to flourish

They forces Jewish businesses to close down allowing other small German businesses to flourish. They said Jews were anti German.

Farmers were given help in paying off loans but were given quotas for production which limited freedom and ensured they would help during war.

In the run up to ww2, German men began to be conscripted into the army and more and more factories were set up for arms production.

Hitler started to secretly rearm Germany in 1933/1944 however by March 1935 it was no longer a secret.

Every man who turned 18 had to do a certain amount of time serving for the country.

He switched the economy ready for war- guns or butter- switched from butter to guns ready for war.

Germany tried to achieve autarky (self-sufficiency) so they could keep fighting if other countries stopped trading with them.