Did Germans gain from Nazi rule?
 Economic recovery and rearmament
 Nazis came to power due to promist to solve desperate unemploymen and a crisis in German
farming in return the German ppl lost their political freedom
 5 million employed - 1933
 Even though worst of the Depression was over, Nazis did commit to improving Germany
 Dr Hjalmar Schacht - created work
 National Labour Service - sent men on public work projects
 conservation
 autobahns
 railways
 builing projects - Reich Chancellery
 Rearmament
 1935 - conscription --> reduced unemployment
 1936 - Four-Year plan led by Göring
 increased economic independence for war
 factories to make raw materials
 boosted national pride
 The Nazis and the workers
 Hitler gain popularity/loyalty from industrial workers
 propaganda praised them
 KDF - Strength Through Joy - cheap entertainment/leisure
 Volkswagen Beetle - "peoples car" bought through state scheme (no worker received one
bcs production halted in 1939)
 Beauty of Labour - improved working conditions (canteens/washrooms)
 In return they lost their main party (SPD) and trade unions
 workers forced to join DAF (General Labour Front) - Dr Robert Ley
 no strikes for better pay/conditions
 wages remained low/some workers complained the standard of living hadnt improved from
before Depression
 The Nazis and the farming communities
 Farmers were of great importance to Hitler
 September 1933 - Reich Food Estate - Richard Dare
 gave peasant farmers a guaranteed market/prices
 Reich Entailed Farm Law - state protection on farms (no banks sieze land)
 "Blood and Soil" - the belief that peasants were the basis of Germany's master race
 the way of life had to be protected
 Rural Depopulation (3% a year - 1930s)
 some more efficient farmers were held back the law
 banks were unwilling to lend money to farmers
 only the eledest child inherited the farm --> many ppl left fot city
 Big business and the middle class
 mixed opinion on Nazis
 grateful for eliminating Communists and bring order
 engineering businesses prospered
 small consumer goods shops struggled
Created in Effie (Trial)
 large department stores were not closed like Hitler promised
 big businesses benfited
 no trade unions/strikes
 IG Farben/Volkswagen/Mercedes
 The "national community" - Volksgemeinschaft
 HItler didnt want Germans to be divided into social groups (farmers/workers)
 He wanted them to think of themselves as part of a national community
 proud to be racially and culurally superior
 Success? - 1930s
 Germans didn't fully embrace the idea
 increased sense of national pride/loyalty
Created in Effie (Trial)