Life in Nazi Germany: The Economy, Women and Youth

Economic Policies: Controlling the Workforce

To prepare the nation for war, the Nazis needed complete control over the economy and industrial production. In May 1933, Hitler used the Enabling Act to ban all independent trade unions. Workers lost the right to strike and negotiate pay.

• Unions were replaced by the DAF (German Labour Front), led by Robert Ley. It acted as a massive, state-run organization controlling both workers and employers to prevent industrial unrest.
• The regime used a "carrot and stick" approach. To compensate for lost rights and low Real wages, the DAF established the KdF (Strength through Joy) in November 1933.
• The KdF subsidized leisure activities, including theatre tickets, hiking trips, and even luxury cruises.
• A subdivision called SdA (Beauty of Labour) was created in 1934 to improve workplace facilities. While 34,000 companies improved their canteens and showers by 1938, workers were often forced to complete these renovations unpaid during their own time.

Worked Example: The Volkswagen Scheme

A factory worker joins the KdF's "People's Car" (Volkswagen) savings scheme in 1938. They must save 5 marks every week to purchase a car priced at 990 marks. How long would it take to pay for the car?

Step 1: Identify the formula for total time required.

• $\text{Total Weeks} = \frac{\text{Total Cost}}{\text{Weekly Savings}}$

Step 2: Substitute the known values.

• $\text{Total Weeks} = \frac{990}{5}$

Step 3: Calculate the final answer.

• $\text{Total Weeks} = 198 \text{ weeks}$ (approximately 4 years of continuous saving).
• Note: No cars were actually delivered to workers, as the factories switched to military production when WWII began.

Rearmament and Autarky

By 1936, Hermann Göring launched the Four Year Plan to create a command economy focused on rapid rearmament and Autarky (economic self-sufficiency). This policy is often described as the Guns vs. Butter dilemma, where the state prioritized military production over consumer goods. The goal was to ensure Germany could survive a wartime blockade without relying on foreign imports.

• Military spending skyrocketed from 3.5 billion marks in 1933 to 26 billion marks by 1939.
• Autarky was only partially successful. By 1939, Germany was 80% self-sufficient in food but still relied on imports for one-third of its vital raw materials (like oil and iron ore).
• To fill the gaps, scientists developed Ersatz (substitute) goods, such as extracting rubber from coal or brewing coffee from acorns.

The Impact on Different Social Sections

Economic policies heavily favored certain groups while actively harming others, undermining the myth of a unified, classless society.

• Big Business: Industrial giants like Krupp (steel) and IG Farben (synthetic oil) made massive profits from rearmament. IG Farben's profits hit 240 million marks by 1939.
• Farmers: The state introduced the Reich Entailed Farm Law in 1933, which prevented medium-sized farms from being divided or sold. While this offered security, it meant land could not be used as collateral for bank loans. Consequently, rural poverty drove a massive Landflucht (rural depopulation) of 3% per year as farmers fled to better-paid factory jobs.
• The Middle Class (Mittelstand): Despite the Law to Protect Retail Trade (which heavily taxed large department stores), the regime prioritized industrial efficiency over small businesses. Between 1933 and 1939, the number of joint stock companies fell from 9,100 to 5,300, and self-employed craftsmen declined by 10%.

Evaluating Policies Towards Women

The Nazi ideal for women was deeply traditional, summarized by the slogan Kinder, Küche, Kirche (Children, Kitchen, Church). The state pursued aggressive Pronatalism to increase the Aryan birth rate.

• Arguments for Success: Led by Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, the state introduced powerful incentives. The Mother's Cross awarded medals for large families (Gold for 8+ children). The birth rate successfully increased from roughly 970,000 in 1933 to 1,410,000 by 1939 (a 45% rise).
• Arguments Against Success (Contradictions): While propaganda told women to stay home, the reality of the rearmament drive required female labor. Female employment actually rose from 5 million to 7.1 million between 1933 and 1939. Furthermore, historians argue the birth rate increase was driven more by the general economic recovery and strict abortion bans than by ideological loyalty.
• The regime also pursued extreme racial policies like Lebensborn, where "racially pure" single women were encouraged to have children with SS officers.
• Overall Judgement: Nazi policies towards women were only a partial success. While birth rates rose, this was likely due to economic stability rather than ideological commitment. Ultimately, the regime's own economic needs overrode their social ideals; the drive for rearmament forced millions of women into the workforce, directly contradicting the "stay-at-home" propaganda.

Worked Example: Marriage Loans

In 1933, the state offered a newlywed couple a loan of 1,000 marks, provided the wife left her job. For every child born, one-quarter (250 marks) of the debt was forgiven. If a couple had three children, what was their remaining debt?

Step 1: Identify the formula for debt reduction.

• $\text{Remaining Debt} = \text{Initial Loan} - (\text{Number of Children} \times 250)$

Step 2: Substitute the known values.

• $\text{Remaining Debt} = 1000 - (3 \times 250)$

Step 3: Calculate the final answer.

• $\text{Remaining Debt} = 1000 - 750 = 250 \text{ marks}$.

Evaluating Policies Towards Youth

The regime recognized that long-term survival depended on indoctrinating the next generation. The Hitlerjugend (HJ) for boys focused on military training, while the Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM) for girls emphasized physical fitness and domestic skills.

• Arguments for Success: Membership skyrocketed from 2.3 million in 1933 to 8.7 million by 1939. Laws passed in 1936 and 1939 systematically eliminated alternative youth groups and made attendance compulsory.
• Arguments Against Success: The movement suffered from widespread apathy. By the late 1930s, attendance at mandatory meetings declined. Furthermore, approximately one million young people (the "million refuseniks") managed to avoid joining entirely.
• Overall Judgement: While the state controlled the structural framework of young people's lives through schools and the HJ, they fundamentally failed to capture the minds of a significant minority, as evidenced by escalating resistance and widespread apathy.

Youth Resistance: The Limits of Control

The failure of Nazi indoctrination was most visible in the emergence of youth resistance groups.

• Working-Class Resistance: The Edelweiss Pirates consisted of teenagers in industrial cities who engaged in Active resistance. They sang parodies of Nazi songs and later escalated to violent sabotage. In 1944, 13 members were publicly hanged in Cologne.
• Middle-Class Resistance: The Swing Kids practiced Non-conformity. They rejected Nazi culture by listening to Degenerate jazz music and wearing British-style clothing. While they did not attempt to overthrow the state, their existence embarrassed the regime.
• University Resistance: The White Rose movement, led by Hans and Sophie Scholl, distributed anti-Nazi leaflets calling for passive resistance before their execution in 1943.