THE ECONOMIC POLICIES OF THE NAZI REGIME, 1933-

45

WHAT WERE THE AIMS OF NAZI ECONOMIC POLICY ?: the Nazis

aimed to reduce unemployment from its 6 million level in 1933, build
up the German armaments industry enabling the expansion of her
armed forces, and make Germany economically self sufficient
( Autarky ).

THE POLICIES OF SCHACHT: Hitler appointed Dr Hjalmar Schacht,

a respected international financier who had played a leading role in
the creation of the new German economy in 1933, as President of the
Reichbank in 1933 and Minister of the Economy in 1934.Schacht was
not a Nazi but his proven economic skills earned him the respect of
the regime. He devised the New Plan which limited imports and
promoted trade agreements who could supply the raw materials that
German industry needed. For instance, Hungary exchanged butter,
vegetable oil and raw materials for industrial products. The
government was dictating the economic priorities of the nation.
Unemployment was reduced by work creation projects such as
autobahns. Conscription into the armed forces from 1935 onwards and
the removal of Jews, Nazi opponents and women from certain jobs
also helped to alleviate the unemployment problem. 2 million Germans
found jobs within a year of Hitler becoming Chancellor. By 1935
Hitler was preparing for war and wanted to speed up the process of
rearmament. Schacht told Hitler that Germany could not afford this
and he resigned in 1937.

THE POLICIES OF GOERING: Schacht’s replacement was Goering,

who was already President of the Reichstag and head of the
Lutwaffe. His Four Year Plan aimed to prepare Germany for war in 4
years; Germany was to become self sufficient in key commodities like
oil, rubber and steel, and there was to be an increase in agricultural
production. Therefore the German economy was to become a
‘wehrwirtschaft’ ( defence economy ). Thus, German industry began to
produce synthetic oil, rubber, petrol etc.

THE POLICIES OF ALBERT SPEER: Speer took charge of the German

war economy as Minister of Armaments in 1942. He advocated a
policy of ‘industrial self responsibility’ in which the controls previously
placed upon business were relaxed. In their place was established a
central planning board. It had a number of committees, each
representing a vital sector of the economy. In this way Speer
maintained overall control of the war economy, whilst allowing the
industrialists a considerable degree of freedom.

HOW SUCCESSFUL WERE THE NAZIS’ ECONOMIC POLICIES ?: the

New Plan certainly enabled the German economy to recover from the
ravages of the Depression ( unemployment had fallen to 500 000 by
1938 from a peak of 6 million…) and rearm. However, other
economies were also beginning to recover by the mid 1930’s. The Four
Year Plan expanded the production of key materials like aluminium but
failed to make Germany self sufficient and by 1939, Germany still
depended on foreign imports for a third of its raw materials. The
only way for Germany to be self sufficient was to embark on foreign
conquests. Industrial production did increase ( by 105% from 1933-
38 ) compared with the worst years of the Depression but this was
not necessarily transferred into higher living standards for workers.
Since 1933 economic growth had been essentially directed to the
needs of war, not civilian consumption. For workers this was the era
of ‘ersatz’ and workers were forbidden to change jobs without
permission and severely punished for absenteeism. It was huge
corporations like I G Farben that benefited most from Nazi economic
policies, rather than ordinary Germans. It was not until the defeat at
Stalingrad in the winter of 1942-3 that full economic mobilisation for
‘total war’ began in earnest. Despite the image of German order and
efficiency, British economic mobilisation for war was much quicker,
1939-41. In actual fact, especially under Goring, rival agencies were
often competing for priority. Speer did much to increase war-time
production, which reached its highest levels in 1944, but this of
course was not enough to reverse the declining military situation.