How successful were Nazi economic policies in the years 1933-45?

by romaineulivecouk (student)

How successful were Nazi economic policies in the years 1933-45? (30 Mark)

Nazi economic policies were extremely successful, this can be argued from the viewpoint of many reasons.

One reason why the Nazis were successful with their economic policies was due to Dr Hjalmar Schacht. Schacht directed the German economy from 1933 – 36, the first three years of Hitler’s reign as chancellor. He believed in a steady growth/currency. The things he did got industry going again. He ignored the Treaty of Versailles ban and restrictions on the German military and had built tanks, planes and ships in the process of Rearmament. This got people working again and Schacht had infrastructure assembled, the Autobahn was originally built by the Nazis to better aid troop movement. Once the basics were functioning again, the whole thing snowballed and the entire economy recovered quickly. He also stopped making the huge reparation payments that the Versailles Treaty stipulated, and instead directed all that money back into Germany. Schacht employed specific strategies which would successively improve the German economy. Schacht took control of state finances within the economy, set low interest rates to inspire investor confidence, rescheduled local authority debts and set about forming a public sector investor programme, i.e. housing and jobs. These targets were on the whole achieved successfully. Lower taxes brought prosperity to farmers in particular, who were the hardest hit by the ‘economic slump’. Grants were provided for homes, repairs and the rehiring of domestic service. Schacht saw to it that State invested projects such as public works programmes; rearmament, reforestation and a state labour service were the created as the steps to solving Germany’s social disharmony. Certainly in this period, historians agree the reconstruction, stabilisation and harmonisation of the German economy show that policy was successful.

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Success in the Nazi economic policies from between these years is also shown with how the reduction of unemployment. Unemployment in Germany in 1933 stood at well over 6 million, Hitler had gained votes and confidence by the German people to significantly lower this number. The number of unemployed dropped significantly and rapidly, only 3.8 million by January 1934 and a minimal 0.4 million by 1938, this is referred to as an ‘Economic miracle’ and was due to a variety of reasons. Reasons such as expansion of production caused by natural economic recovery, rearmament, agriculture and an increase in the civil service were all factors were contributed factors that saw an increase in employment. Unemployment had seemingly disappeared due to Hitler’s expulsion of Women, Jews and other minorities from the statistics and figures that added to the amount. Work creation was planned by Schleicher and taken up by the Nazis in 1934. It operated according to ‘Reichardt Plans’ announced in late 1933. Agriculture most certainly lowered unemployment in 1933. Then comes the autobahn and "Kraft durch Freude" (KdF), where they drafted all the unemployed in a labor service; this was a massive undertaking and put thousands of people to work. Even if the jobs were not permanent it raised the moral of the German people and helped the lower classes earn a living.

Rearmament can also be seen as a success in terms of the economic policy. Rearmament was very important to Hitler, one of his main aims when becoming Chancellor was Wehrwirtschaft, the creation of a defence economy. Hitler planned to avoid the mistakes of the past. Spending for rearmament was discretely concealed in work creation programmes, one example being the building of new runways – The Autobahn. The ‘second four year plan’ from 36 – 40, heavily focussed on rearmament. Hitler in 1936 wanted Germany to be ready for war within 4 years. The rapid re-armament programme only seemed successful at the expense of the economy which was overburdened by the vast imports necessary, and the resulting foreign exchange crisis was not helped by the food shortages of 1935 – the famous Guns and Butter debate. But Hitler’s aims of rearmament to the German military had been effective. Rearmament gave Germans a sense of pride, self-worth and nationalism (which they desperately needed at the time); which is what Hitler wanted so he could achieve a Volksgemeinschaft (People's Community).

Overridingly, Hitler and the Nazi's economic policies were exceptionally successful, in the short term. He appeared to have virtually eliminated unemployment all within three years of gaining office, something other democratic Western powers did not find themselves able to achieve in the 1930s. His aims were to create full employment without inflation, to make Germany self-sufficient and to create Wehrwirtschaft, a defence economy. All of which he seemed to do. Nazi policies took hold of the economy; most of the jobless had disappeared from official unemployment statistics. The standard of living increased as many Germans gained employment.

Romaine Ubani