hitler economy

One of Hitler’s top priorities was to solve unemployment. He achieved this to some extent by creating jobs for workers in Public Works Schemes, building Autobahns and working in arms factories. This helped the economy because the government didn’t have to pay unemployment benefits to people; instead they were working and spending the salary on goods which stimulated economic growth and confidence. Hitler increased public expenditure and investment in industry and industrial research; this also boosted the economy because more was being produced to export. Hitler also made businesses employ more people by giving workers a lower salary which enabled employers to hire more people for the same price. Some groups, such as Jews and Women, were pushed out of jobs to make room for unemployed people, and other groups, such as farmers and agricultural workers, were no longer eligible for unemployment benefits. This decreased public and government expenditure which could then be spent on other things, hence improving the economy. Compulsory military service for 18-25 year olds was introduced which removed them from the unemployment register; the armed forces grew from 100,000 in 1933 to 1,400,000 in 1939. All these aspects of the economic policy were fairly successful. It could be argued that it was a way of pleasing the people, thus making them more likely to support a war if it occurred, however it is much more likely, taking into account the outcome of the whole recovery period, that the whole process was geared towards war. The public were told that the recovery was for the betterment of the economy, but with even the unemployed being put into the army it is hard to look beyond war as the main aim.

        Germany had started to re arm slowly in 1933. This meant that few raw materials could be exported as they were being used in rearmament. They were importing more than they were exporting which created a trade deficit. Schacht tried to solve this problem in 1934 with the ‘New Plan’. This plan had the government control all the exports and imports into Germany. It stopped Germany paying reparations from WWI, and tried to solve the imbalance by making agreements with South American countries and the Balkan states where they would buy goods from these countries if, in return, they would only import from Germany. This meant Germany could increase its exports while keeping a steady supply of imports. The New Plan was successful in balancing the divide between imports and loss of foreign currency, and