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Gleichschaltung: Labour, Economy, & Foreign Policy in Nazi Germany

Explore the impact of Nazi policies on labor, economy, & foreign affairs in Germany during the 1930s, including the Gleichschaltung laws, Trade Unionist arrests, economic revival, the Night of the Long Knives, & the Four Year Plan.

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Gleichschaltung: Labour, Economy, & Foreign Policy in Nazi Germany

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  1. HI136 The History of GermanyLecture 10 Gleichschaltung: Labour, Economy and Foreign Policy

  2. Gleichschaltung • April 1933: Laws passed enabling Nazi-dominated State governments to pass legislation without the approval of provincial parliaments. • 2 May 1933: Leading Trade Unionists arrested & workers’ organizations merged to form the Deutscher Arbeitsfront (German Labour Front, DAF). • 22 June 1933: The SPD officially banned. • June-July 1933: Other political parties dissolved themselves. • 14 July 1933: The Nazi Party proclaimed the only legal political party in Germany. • Jan. 1934: State parliaments abolished & local government subordinated to the federal Minister of the Interior.

  3. Revolutionary Phase March 1933: First concentration camp opened in Dachau near Munich First victims: Communists and Social Democrats Then, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, German Jews, physically and mentally handicapped, and Afro-Germans July 1933: Law for Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring 1933: Mob attacks against Jews and Jewish businesses 7 April 1933: Law for the Restitution of the Professional Civil Service October 1933: Germany leaves League of Nations

  4. Nazi Book Burning May ’33 http://cache-media.britannica.com.cdnetworks.net/eb-media/41/67841-004-21BD0894.jpg

  5. The Night of the Long Knives,30 June 1934 • Pressure from the party rank-and-file (and particularly from within the SA) for a ‘second revolution’. • Fears that the radicalism of the SA would bring about a military coup against the Nazis. • This led to a purge of the party on 30 June 1934 – the SS carried out raids against targets across Germany. Critics of the regime such as Vice-Chancellor Papen were arrested, while old enemies such as Gregor Strasser & Gustav Ritter von Kahr were summarily executed. Over 1000 people were arrested & at least 85 killed. Ernst Röhm (1887-1934)

  6. Routinisation 1934--End of Revolutionary Phase: • October: Night of Long Knives • 19 Aug 1934: Merger of Presidency & Chancellor • 24 October 1934: German Labour Front founded

  7. Economic Policy John Heartfield (1891 – 1968), Adolf the Superman: Swallows Gold and Spouts Junk, 1932 Der Sinn des Hitlergrusses: Kleiner Mann bittet um grosse Gaben. Motto: Millonen Stehen Hinter Mir! [The Meaning of the Hitler Salute: Little man asks for big gifts. Motto: Millions Stand Behind Me!], The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1932

  8. Economic Policy • Different approaches to economic management considered: • Anti-capitalist clauses of the 25-point programme: nationalisation, profit sharing, expansion of welfare state. • Deficit financing • Wehrwirtschaft (defence economy) • Three key stages: • 1933-37: economic revival under Hjalmar Schacht • 1936-39: preparation for war • 1939-45: wartime economy

  9. Economic Revival, 1933-36 • Respected financier Hjalmar Schacht appointed President of the Reichsbank (1933-39) & Minister of Economics (1934-37) – demonstrates the Nazis need to keep big business on side. • Schacht given virtual dictatorial powers over the economy. Hjalmar Schacht (1877-1970)

  10. Public Works Source: G. Layton, Democracy and Dictatorship in Germany (2009)

  11. Public Works Reichsautobahnen Year km total • 1935 108 108 • 1936 979 1087 • 1937 923 2010 • 1938 1036 3046 • 1939 255 3301 • 1940 436 3737 • 1941 90 3827 • 1942 34 3861 • 1943 35 3896 Total: 3896

  12. Economic Revival, 1933-36 Sept. 1934: ‘New Plan’ introduces state control of trade & currency exchange. Bilateral trade agreements with South America and the Balkans. ‘The Fight Against Unemployment’: Graph Presented by the Reich Ministry of Employment (1934)

  13. The Four Year Plan • A looming balance of payments crisis by 1936 – Schacht’s solution to reduce expenditure in re-armament & focus on production of manufactured goods for export. • However, in August 1936 Hitler issued a memorandum calling for the German economy to be ready for war within four years. • This led to the introduction of the Four Year Plan under Hermann Göring – the aim was to make Germany self-sufficient in food and raw materials. • Tighter control of economy and workforce. • Success of the plan was mixed, but generally it fell short of its targets.

  14. Labour • The state-run trade union, the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF), was the largest Nazi organization with a membership of 22 million by 1939. • It was responsible for setting wages and working hours, organizing training, dealing with strikes and absenteeism and supervising working conditions. • Kraft durch Freunde (KdF, Strength through Joy) provided opportunities for loyal workers to go on cheap holidays, participate in cultural visits or access sporting facilities.

  15. Winners and Losers • Difficult to assess • Job creation • Low Real Wages for Industrial Workers w/ some new compensations (Eigensinn-Alf Lüdtke) • Minor gains for small businessmen and farmers • Heavy Industry!!

  16. German Foreign Policy, 1933-1937

  17. German Foreign Policy, 1938-1939 One woman’s reaction to the German entry into the Sudetenland, Sept. 1938.

  18. The Nazi-Soviet Pact, 23 August 1939 • Article I. Both High Contracting Parties obligate themselves to desist from any act of violence, any aggressive action, and any attack on each other, either individually or jointly with other Powers. • Article II. Should one of the High Contracting Parties become the object of belligerent action by a third Power, the other High Contracting Party shall in no manner lend its support to this third Power. Secret Additional Protocol: • Article I. In the event of a territorial and political rearrangement in the areas belonging to the Baltic States (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), the northern boundary of Lithuania shall represent the boundary of the spheres of influence of Germany and U.S.S.R. In this connection the interest of Lithuania in the Vilna area is recognized by each party. • Article II. In the event of a territorial and political rearrangement of the areas belonging to the Polish state, the spheres of influence of Germany and the U.S.S.R. shall be bounded approximately by the line of the rivers Narev, Vistula and San. The question of whether the interests of both parties make desirable the maintenance of an independent Polish States and how such a state should be bounded can only be definitely determined in the course of further political developments. In any event both Governments will resolve this question by means of a friendly agreement. • Article III. With regard to Southeastern Europe attention is called by the Soviet side to its interest in Bessarabia. The German side declares its complete political disinterestedness in these areas. • Article IV. This protocol shall be treated by both parties as strictly secret. “Rendezvous”, by David Low, The Evening Standard, 20 September 1939

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