Nazi Policies

Describe the way the Nazi government set about providing jobs for the unemployed in Germany after 1933.

In 1929 a worldwide depression began due to the Wall Street Crash. This hit Germany particularly hard as the agreements of the treaty of Versailles, made post World War I, placed war guilt upon Germany and had meant that they owed countries like Britain and France a great deal of money. Unable to pay this money Germany agreed a plan called the Dawes plan with the USA, meaning that the USA would loan out money to the Germans to pay their debts. However when the Wall Street Crash did happen USA recalled these loans leaving Germany in a terrible state. It caused people to stop buying meaning jobs were lost and by 1933 it had escalated into having 6 million unemployed people. The Nazi’s party took advantage of the state of the country, especially the unemployment, and for the 1930’s election they issued the “Unsere Letzte Hoffnung” poster. They told the people that they would solve the problem of unemployment, and although they didn’t say how they were going to do this, it was enough to gain the vote as all other parties were only saying how they would try. But once in power, how did the Nazi’s reduce the number unemployed.
One way in which the Nazi’s set about solving the problem of unemployment was the system of public works. This offered jobs that were not there previously to the unemployed. These jobs included building Autobahns (motorways), extending and creating railways, building houses and hospitals and creating drainage ditches. This meant that unskilled unemployed workers had access to jobs which they took, removing them from unemployment figures. This was further backed up by increased punishment for being unemployed and known as “work shy”; these punishments included spending time at labour camps.
A second way how Nazi government set about solving unemployment was by introducing the DAF (German Labour Front). The DAF created rules whereby workers could no longer leave without the government’s permission. Other rules included that employers were now unable to dispose of employees on the spot and strikes were made illegal. A further law of the DAF was put in place and it forced the unemployed to accept job offers regardless of the job. This meant that it was now harder to leave or be made leave a job and therefore keeping more potentially unemployed people in their existing jobs and off unemployment figures.
Another way the Nazis reduced the problem of unemployment was to increase the size of the armed forces. This was done by introducing conscription. Joining the army was also a popular choice to the unemployed as it meant that they would get descent warm meals and a roof over their head, when not in war. It was also a popular choice as it gave unemployed men a feeling of being needed. This increase in the armed forces and in particular the introduction of conscription meant that many firstly chose to join the army and then others were forced to do so, greatly reducing the unemployment figures.
For similar reasons as the above the increases in arms production helped Germany solve their problem of unemployment. Many new factories were opened to develop the necessary equipment and materials to create the weapons. This created new jobs that were never there before. This meant that, alongside, the DAF’s new rules stating that job offers must be accepted, many more people were put into jobs and removed from unemployment figures.
A final way how the Nazis solved their problem of unemployment was to make Jews “untermenschen” which meant they did no longer exist on unemployment records. The Nazis did this by removing Jews from their jobs and replacing them with German non-Jews. This reduced unemployment numbers because it put unemployed people into jobs and removed Jews who weren’t included on the unemployment figures. This exaggerated the success of Nazis policies towards unemployment as they were not really reducing unemployment, only replacing Jews with non-Jews and manipulating numbers and figures to read what they want. A similar process was made towards women and they were also removed from unemployment figures. It was not as persecuting as the policy to the Jews as it was there mainly to make the non-Jewish male the breadwinner and making the woman a housewife or mother. This further reduced unemployment figures.

So therefore it can be argued that...