Life in Nazi Germany: The Economy, Women and Youth

Building a National Community

Between 1933 and 1939, the Nazis tried to reshape Germans’ everyday lives as well as their government. Their ideal was the Volksgemeinschaft, or National Community: a nation in which differences of class, region and religion would give way to shared loyalty to Germany and Hitler. Workers, employers, mothers and children were each expected to serve the nation in an assigned role.

This was not a promise of equality or inclusion for everyone. The Nazis defined belonging through their racial beliefs, excluding Jews and others they regarded as outsiders. Even among those accepted into the community, people were not free to choose their own organisations or priorities. Independent trade unions disappeared, young people’s activities became increasingly state-controlled, and women were encouraged to put motherhood before careers.

The regime combined restrictions with attractive benefits. A job, a holiday, a youth camp or financial help for marriage could make Nazi rule appealing. These benefits helped turn the idea of national unity into something people could experience. However, participation and popularity did not prove that all Germans benefited equally or agreed with every policy.

Creating jobs and preparing for war

The Great Depression had left millions of Germans unemployed. Around 4.8 million were recorded as unemployed in 1933. Providing work therefore mattered both to struggling families and to Hitler’s popularity. It also allowed the regime to direct labour towards its other priorities: improved infrastructure and preparation for war.

Public works created employment building roads, bridges and public buildings. Construction of the autobahns, Germany’s motorways, began in September 1933; by 1935 it employed about 125,000 men. The National Labour Service (RAD) also organised work such as road repairs and tree planting. From 1935, six months’ labour service became compulsory for young men. It provided work, but pay was poor and its uniforms and discipline made it more than an ordinary job.

Rearmament was particularly important. Conscription, introduced in 1935, took men into the armed forces. Producing weapons, aircraft and other military equipment created factory jobs as well. Employment in aircraft construction rose from about 4,000 in 1933 to 72,000 in 1935. This shows how military expansion could reduce unemployment both directly, through service, and indirectly, through industrial production.

Recorded unemployment fell to about 500,000 in 1938. This was a substantial improvement, but the figures alone cannot show whether everyone was better off. Labour service and military service removed men from the ordinary jobs market, while official statistics did not include everyone without work. Nor did a falling unemployment total reveal wages, prices, working hours or freedom at work.

The Four Year Plan and its priorities

The Nazis also wanted autarky: greater economic self-sufficiency. Germany depended on imported food and raw materials. Hitler wanted to reduce this dependence so that foreign supplies, or a blockade like the one experienced during the First World War, would not undermine Germany’s ability to fight.

In 1936, Hermann Goering was put in charge of the Four Year Plan. It increased government direction of production, set industrial targets and encouraged substitutes for imported materials, including synthetic rubber made using coal. Rearmament remained a central priority.

This approach is often described as ‘guns rather than butter’: military production took priority over goods and improvements intended for ordinary consumers. Industries receiving military orders gained opportunities to expand, but the economy was increasingly directed towards the regime’s aims rather than consumer needs. Autarky remained incomplete: in 1939, Germany still imported roughly one-third of its raw materials.

Workers: employment and leisure, but fewer rights

For someone who had been unemployed during the Depression, a regular job could bring a major improvement in security. Skilled workers in armaments industries could earn more as demand for their labour increased. Yet workers also lost the ability to defend their interests independently.

On 2 May 1933, the Nazis destroyed the trade unions. The German Labour Front, led by Robert Ley, replaced them. It was a Nazi-controlled organisation, not an independent body bargaining on workers’ behalf. Strikes were forbidden, and workers had much less influence over their pay and conditions.

Longer hours and higher prices limited the benefits of employment. The working week rose from about 43 to 47 hours, while real wages remained below their 1928 level until 1938. Food prices were about 20 per cent higher by 1939. A skilled worker with increased earnings might cope with these prices better than a poorly paid labourer. Consequently, higher money wages did not automatically mean a higher standard of living.

Strength Through Joy, established in 1933 as part of the Labour Front, offered concerts, sport, excursions and subsidised holidays, including cruises. These were genuine attractions, especially for people who had previously been unable to afford such leisure. They also allowed the regime to organise workers’ free time and encourage loyalty without restoring independent unions.

Some promises were less successful. In the Volkswagen savings scheme, workers paid five marks a week towards a ‘people’s car’. No saver received a car through the scheme before the war; production was redirected towards military vehicles. The promise of affordable ownership was therefore not the same as an achieved benefit.

Beauty of Labour, introduced in 1934, encouraged employers to improve facilities such as toilets, showers and canteens. By 1938, about 34,000 companies had improved their facilities. However, workers were sometimes expected to carry out the improvements themselves, outside normal hours and without extra pay. Better surroundings could therefore come at a personal cost.

Farmers, small businesses and larger industry

Nazi economic policies affected more than industrial workers. The Nazis praised small farmers through their idea of ‘Blood and Soil’, which linked farming to the strength of the German nation. The Reich Entailed Farm Law of 1933 sought to preserve family farms by restricting their sale or division and providing for inheritance by the eldest son.

This offered protection against the breaking up of farms, but it also restricted owners’ choices. It did not stop people leaving the countryside: the rural population continued to fall. Government guarantees of farm prices offered support, but praise for farmers did not solve every difficulty of rural life.

The Nazis had also promised to help the Mittelstand, including small craftsmen and shopkeepers, who struggled against larger firms. The Law to Protect Retail Trade placed higher taxes on larger businesses. Nevertheless, small businesses continued to face competition, and the number of small craftsmen declined between 1936 and 1939.

Meanwhile, larger firms producing armaments or materials needed for military expansion benefited from increased orders. Yet they too operated within an economy subject to growing state direction. The pattern was uneven: political promises to small producers did not necessarily outweigh the opportunities that rearmament created for large industry.

Women: motherhood encouraged, careers restricted

Nazi policy treated women primarily as wives and mothers rather than as independent workers. The regime wanted women it considered racially acceptable to have children who would form the next generation of the National Community.

From June 1933, marriage loans of 1,000 marks encouraged women to leave employment when they married. A quarter of the loan was cancelled for each child, so four children could cancel the entire debt. This joined financial assistance to the regime’s desired behaviour: leaving work, marrying and raising a larger family.

Women also faced restrictions on access to careers in the civil service and legal professions, and limits on university entry. From 1939, the Mother’s Cross publicly honoured mothers with four or more children. Such rewards gave motherhood prestige, but narrowed the roles women were encouraged to pursue.

There was an important contradiction between this ideal and the needs of the economy. As rearmament expanded, employers needed more labour. In 1937, marriage loans no longer required wives to stop working. By 1939, more women were employed than in 1933.

Nazi policy therefore did not simply remove all women from employment. It restricted opportunities and promoted domestic roles, but the demand for workers forced a partial retreat. A woman who wanted financial help to raise a family might welcome a loan, while one seeking a professional career faced serious disadvantages.

Young people: shaping beliefs at school and in leisure

The Nazis wanted children to grow up loyal to Hitler and ready to fulfil their assigned roles. Schools and youth organisations worked together: education shaped what children learned, while youth groups organised much of their time outside school.

At school, the curriculum emphasised physical fitness, Nazi interpretations of German history and racist teaching presented as ‘race science’. Physical training took about one-sixth of the timetable. These lessons encouraged children to accept Nazi beliefs rather than examine them critically. Teachers were also brought into Nazi organisations; by 1937, about 97 per cent belonged to the Nazi Teachers’ League.

The Hitler Youth offered boys camping, sport, uniforms and a sense of belonging alongside drill and preparation for military service. The League of German Girls combined physical activities with domestic training and preparation for motherhood. The contrast reflected the regime’s expectations: boys were future soldiers, while girls were future mothers.

Membership of the Nazi youth movement rose from about 108,000 in 1932 to 5.4 million in 1936. The 1936 law strengthened its dominance as rival youth organisations were suppressed. Membership became explicitly compulsory in March 1939, and the movement reached around 8.7 million members that year.

Adventure and friendship could attract young people, but the movement also reduced choice. Children could no longer freely select alternative clubs, and increasingly had to take part in activities chosen by the state. Rising membership therefore reflected a mixture of attraction, pressure and compulsion—not simply enthusiasm for Nazism.

How far did everyday life improve?

The regime’s policies cannot be judged by a single measure. Employment increased, and some Germans gained holidays, improved workplaces or financial support for marriage. These benefits helped the Nazis build support and gave substance to their promise of a National Community.

But benefits came alongside losses. Workers lost independent representation; women faced restricted career choices; young people encountered indoctrination and compulsory participation. Smaller producers did not always receive the protection they expected, while economic resources increasingly served preparation for war.

The strongest judgement distinguishes between groups and between different kinds of improvement. Greater economic security could coexist with less freedom. A popular activity could also be a means of control. Above all, the National Community remained an exclusionary Nazi ideal, not an equal community embracing all Germans.