Did the majority of Germans gain from the Nazi Government between 1933-1939?

Many Germans must have agreed with the Nazi ideas because by 1939 Hitler was the most popular leader in Europe. To gain this resounding popularity from the German public people must have been benefiting from Nazi rule, but did the majority of Germans benefit?

One group of people in Germany were the working men. The working man benefited from the Nazis in a number of ways. Before the Nazis came into power there were millions of unemployed due to the depression. When Hitler came into power he fulfilled his promise to provide ‘bread and work’. Hitler’s work schemes and the re-introduction of conscription put millions back to work. Some workers did better than others. The rearmament industry did particularly well. Hitler replaced trade unions with the German Labour Front (DAF) which provided subsidized leisure and holiday facilities such as cruise liners and walking holidays for workers. The DAF was not all good for workers though, by banning trade unions workers lost all their rights to strike and bargain for better wages and working conditions. As a result of this wages gradually decreased and work loads increased.

Hitler and the Nazis regarded women as wives and mothers and they were discouraged from working. Women were encouraged to get married and have lots of children. Benefits were offered to women with more than four children. Couples were loaned 1000 marks, on the birth of a child the couple were allowed to keep a quarter of the loan. For every child they had they were allowed to keep another 250 marks until they had four children when they were able to kept the whole loan. This resulted in an increasing birth rate. Women were to stick to the “three Ks” kinder – children, kirche – church and kuche – cooking. Although the Nazis improved the living of the housewife, the working lady suffered losing their jobs and being made to marry and women were discouraged from professional careers.

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The Nazis were very clever when it came to young people. They recognized that adults already had their opinions and they were hard to change. They targeted young people because the young are impressionable and hadn’t time to form their opinions. When an opponent of the Nazis declared he would never come over to their side Hitler answered “your children belong to us already …. What are you?” Nazi youth groups and camps were popular and made children physically fit and disciplined them. It gave them a sense of belonging and children were old enough at the age of three. Some people avoided the Hitler youth but in 1936 it was made compulsory to join. School curriculums were changed with the emphasis on sport and history according to the Nazi view (anti-semitic, anti-communist views). Rebellion was dealt with harshly. All in all young people gained a lot from Hitler. Values were installed into them and they felt important. The rebels such as the Swing Movement and Edelweiss Pirates were outcasts and although towards the end of the 1930s their popularity grew, they were a small minority.

Whether Hitler’s influence on the military was good or bad is a matter of opinion. On one hand Hitler increased the size of the army and a lot more money and resources were given to them. On the other hand some officers in the military resented Hitler’s interference and/or thought his plans too risky and ambitious.

Politically the Nazis were devastating. Political opposition was not allowed making Germany a one party state. Thousands of communists and socialists were arrested, exiled or executed. The Nazis restored order through their police but many people feared their terror police. The Nazis had taken people’s political freedom and ability to disagree with the Nazis.

Some groups that definitely did not benefit from the Nazis were the minorities. Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and mentally handicapped people were persecuted for twelve years because the Nazis saw them as a threat to Germany’s future and the supreme race that Hitler was trying to build. Sterilisation was forced on men and women with hereditary illnesses. 300,000 people were sterilized between 1934 – 1945. 5000 severely handicapped babies and children were killed by starvation or lethal injection due to the Nazi euthanasia programme. The Nazis believed that gypsies were inferior and by the end of the war five in every six gypsies were dead. Homosexuals, alcoholics, the homeless, prostitutes, habitual criminals and beggars were all classed as asocials and were sent to concentration camps (or murdered). Hitler believed asocials were ‘impurities’ in Hitler’s ‘Master Race’.

Yet all these horrible acts of murder and persecution was not even close to the suffering the Nazis inflicted on the Jews. Hitler’s hatred of the Jews was insane. His aim was to get rid of every Jew in Germany. Deprived of medicine, the German citizenship was taken away and their shops were boycotted. The Nazi propaganda targeted Jews and gave false images and messages about them. Jews working in the civil service, universities and schools all lost their jobs. Thousands fled from Germany leaving their homes, friends and family. Then in 1938 plain clothed Nazi SS troopers ran riot smashing and burning Jewish shops and synagogues. 91 Jews were murdered and 20,000 were sent to concentration camps. Jews were forced to live in ghettos which the Nazis regularly decided to ‘clean out’ killing everyone. Finally Hitler came up with death camps where Jews, asocials, gypsies and political opponents were worked to death, gassed or shot. Six million out of eight million Jews were killed in cold blood in what has become known as the Holocaust.

The Nazi system might have been fine if you were in the majority but as a member of the minority you would have been persecuted for 12 long years. Personally, I believe that the Nazi government between 1935 and 1939 for the majority of the German people was great help in pulling them through the depression and rebuilding Germany to its full power. I believe the majority of German people did gain from Nazi rule between 1933 and 1939. So long as they kept their heads down and were content to lose their political freedom, many Germans probably lived a better life. Hitler was largely seen as someone who delivered his promises.

James Monaghan