The twentieth-century world, Year 10: the Nazi economy and Germans at war (Germany 1890–1945 option)

The Reich Labour Service (RAD)

提示Compulsory for young men from 1935.

为什么The men lived in barracks, wore a paramilitary uniform and carried spades. The service was meant to cut unemployment and to teach Nazi ideas.

The autobahns (motorways)

提示You would drive on it.

为什么Roads of this kind had been planned and begun before 1933, and at its peak in 1936 the scheme employed about 125,000 men directly. Rearmament and conscription did far more to end unemployment.

The Nazis manipulated the statistics and the employment laws

提示The term used for it is 'invisible unemployment'.

为什么Some of the fall came from changes in who was counted and from compulsory labour schemes. Real jobs were created as well, above all by rearmament, which employed millions and prepared Germany for war.

Autarky

提示Göring's Four Year Plan of 1936 aimed at this.

为什么Hitler wanted Germany able to fight a war without being starved by a blockade, as it had been in 1914 to 1918. The plan fell short of its aim.

The German Labour Front (DAF)

提示Led by Robert Ley.

为什么Workers lost the right to strike or bargain over pay. In return the 'Strength through Joy' programme offered cheap holidays, concerts and sports. Most workers had a job again, but real wages fell and hours grew longer.

1939

提示It did not wait for shortages to appear.

为什么At first rations were adequate, because food and goods were taken from occupied countries. Shortages became severe only in the last years of the war.

Hamburg

提示The raids were code-named Operation Gomorrah.

为什么The raids caused a firestorm that destroyed much of the city. Tens of thousands of people were killed, and about a million left the city. Bombing made millions of Germans homeless during the war.

With forced labourers from occupied countries

提示Millions were brought in against their will.

为什么At the peak, forced labourers, both foreign civilians and prisoners of war, made up about a fifth of Germany's workforce, many of them in harsh conditions. The Nazis were slower than Britain to call up women for war work, because it clashed with their ideas about women's role.

Total war

提示Made in a speech in Berlin soon after the defeat at Stalingrad.

为什么Under the armaments minister, Albert Speer, weapons production reached its peak in the summer of 1944, even under heavy bombing.

To escape the advancing Soviet army

提示Look at which front was moving towards them.

为什么Refugees from East Prussia and other eastern regions crowded into cities that were already bombed and short of food. Many died on the journey in bitter winter weather.