Life under the Nazis - who was better and worse off.

Authors Avatar

Workers in Germany were better off under the Nazi’s

When Hitler came to power with the Nazis in 1933, he promised to solve Germany’s problems unemployment and farming as well as restoring Germany’s pride. In order to receive these benefits Germany unknowingly gave up there political freedom and others things. Changes were made to the lives of all the rich, the poor, the young and the old. Some people's lives were changed significantly for the worse, others for the better. For most these changes in quality of life were slight for others, it had changed hugely. Life definitely changed for everyone, but who had it for the better?

People can’t argue that there weren’t ‘winners’ during the Nazi ruling, once Hitler came to power the problem of unemployment had seriously decreased. Most of the unemployed was solved by people either joining the army, or being conscripted to work in the factories, producing munitions and other war materials, such as tanks, guns and rifles. . The National Labour Service sent men (mostly unemployed) on public work projects and conservation programs, including the construction of the network of autobahns. Unemployed people were clearly gaining from Nazi rule, finding jobs and security.

Workers that were previously unemployed, prospered from schemes such as Strength through Joy,' which gave many workers cheap theatre and cinema tickets and organised courses and trips and sporting events, which many workers enjoyed. This made the workers happy, drawing the attention away from the fact that they all had simple, boring jobs. If you were an unskilled worker, life under the Nazis was great. If you were a skilled worker, then you probably weren't very happy, doing a job, which they were much more qualified for.

Due to the fact Hitler lowered unemployment this made people like industrial workers support Hitler. For Hilter getting the workers votes was essential and they would be the backbone of the new German empire. These were the people would be needed the war and therefore support the rest of Germany.  This meant that in order to gain the votes from this people he need to keep them happy, this would also make they work more efficiently. As well as the strength through the joys scheme, things like propaganda was also used to make the workers seem closer to the Fuher. They also created schemes where workers could save five marks a week in order to save up for a Volkswagen beetle, which was seen as the symbol of new Germany. Another man scheme was the beauty of labour movement which improved the working conditions and also provided washing facilities and low- cost canteens. They also offered security which meant that the workers couldn’t lose they job, like they had in previous years due to the depression. The workers may have gained all of this benefits but they did eventually lose out on. All car production was stopped in 1939, and switched to war-time production, this meant that nobody actually got there Volkswagen beetle. Workers did not know the price they were paying in order to have these benefits, this meant losing all other political parties and be forced to vote for only one. They also lost there trade unions and were forced to join the General Labour Front. The General Labour Front kept strict controls on all workers, they also couldn’t strike and in some places were kept from moving to better paid jobs. Even thou the wages rose slightly, the prices in Germany also rose too, which meant that the workers weren’t any better off than they were before the Nazi’s took control.

Join now!

Farmers' lives also improved under the Nazis. Just after Hitler came to power, in September 1933, he set up the Reich Food Estate, setting up boards to buy the food from the farmers and distribute it around the cities. This was good for farmers as there were also set prices for the food, so if the farmers produced more food, they knew that they could sell it, at the same price each time. They also set up the Reich Entailed Farm Law, which gave farmers protection from banks who would repossess their farm if the farmers hadn't been keeping up ...

This is a preview of the whole essay