The first step that Hitler took was to introduce the National Labour Service which was set up for young 18-25. The government made money available to fund public work projects so that the young men could improve Germany by building a network of motorways (autobahns), railways, roads and also public building such as the Reich Chancellery and also the stadium which held the 1936 Olympic Games.
In the RAD Hitler introduced reward schemes so that the workers would be encouraged and work harder. Also instead of having Trade Unions so that they could protest for pay rises etc the workers could join the Labour Front where they wouldn’t be allowed to go on strike however high wages were paid. Unemployment was starting to decrease rapidly; we can see this from the statistics as by 1935 2,151,000 people were unemployed, which is a drop of 4 million in 3 years. This shows how life was beginning to change for the people in Nazi Germany as I wasn’t so bad after all.
All the new schemes Hitler introduced created thousands of jobs. The Nazi’s also introduced the ‘Strength through Joy’ scheme which was when the really good and hard workers were awarded prizes such as holidays to the Mediterranean. The scheme was also introduced so that free time was not ‘wasted’ however it was also like a treat for the workers. This scheme was also involved in the plan to manufacture cheap enough for the workers to buy, which was the Volkswagen (‘The Peoples Car’) as an ambition for people to aim for, this was also like propaganda in some sense to say that the employees are very important to Germany and its economy.
When the Nazis came into power they banned trade unions, as they believed them to be a threat to discipline in the workplace. Therefore in place of that the German Labour Front (DAF) was set up which controlled all workers everywhere and set people wage rate and regulated their working hours. The organisation was set up by Dr Robert Ley and all German workers were forced to join however it did end up benefiting them and the country as a whole. Other organisation where also set up within the DAF to please the workers such as the Strength through Joy. One of the main aims of the Beauty of Labour was too basically improving work conditions for example by reducing factory noise and also introducing hot meals at midday. Therefore it was hoped that the workers would be willing to work longer hours for less wages. Overall the organisation tried to convince the German workforce of the need to work to improve Germany and make it great again.
One of the main and major reasons to why the unemployment rate dropped was through Rearmament which created many jobs. In 1935 Hitler decided to ignore the Treaty of Versailles and started to rearm Germany. However then he introduced conscription, which increased the army by over one million mean between 1935-38. However to support this expansion and the men weapons and equipment had to be made which created even more jobs. The need for weapons, equipment and uniform created jobs in the coal mines, steel and textile mills. Engineers and designers gained new opportunities particularly when Hitler announced he would have a world class air force. Due to this rearmament, it also hinted that a war could be on the way in the future years to come, because the message sent across from rearming gave the impression that country was preparing for something big. In 1936 Hitler quoted
“German and Italian rearmament is proceeding much more rapidly than re-armament can in England. In three years Germany will be ready” this hinted that Germany where preparing something such as war.
The unemployment levels now fell down to 119,000 by 1939 (See fig below). Hitler also did minor things such as dismissing Jews from their high status jobs and not recording them as unemployed. Also more and more people where sent to labour and concentration camp however they were also not classed as unemployed.
As more and more people were working more tax was being paid and there was an increase in big business annual turnover, also the industry and farmers added economic strength. Germany was at its peak at that moment. Germany was a lot more powerful and stronger and less chaotic under Hitler. This was mainly because he solved and used to his advantages to problems that Weimar had. Unemployed had now increased rapidly, unlike when Weimar ruled until 1937. They had let the Germans down, however the Nazi’s were there to change all this and help the country and its people.
As well as bringing economic recovery, the measures that Hitler used boosted National Pride. The Germans began to feel that their country was finally burying the past and moving on to become the great power once again.
In contrast to this Hitler’s ‘New Plan’ for Germany had clear aim, he wanted to reduce unemployment which he did, build up the armaments industry and finally he wanted to make Germany Self sufficient. In order to make the country self sufficient he wanted them to produce their own food produce instead of importing their food and raw materials. In order to achieve this, a ‘Four Year Plan’ was set up. The production of raw materials such as coal, iron, and synthetic materials were produced. New factories and industrial plants were built to do this, such as the Hermann Goering works and huge mining and metal works. However in contrast to this The Four Year Plan was quite expensive and it needed a lot of investment in industry etc. By 1939 it really didn’t exceed in making Germany fully self sufficient, as over a third of its raw materials were still imported from foreign countries. It was obvious that Germany good not fulfil full self sufficiency, so then they decided another approach of taking over countries with the necessary food and raw materials, this was the policy of Lebensraum (living space). The Nazi economic and feign policy had begun to overlap.
As Hitler was trying to make Germany the major power again. He was also helping people such as the Farmers and business people. He told the Farmers that they were the most important group of people. However the farmers were in a major debt, but Hitler paid this of which helped them to be self sufficient as more food was produced.
Small businesses also benefited as they banned all department stores due to the competition and they also closed down all major successful Jewish businesses.
