Jobs, lost rights and war

G2 Full History - syllabus K227, 2027

What this lesson teaches

  • I can explain how authoritarian regimes rose and how they changed politics, the economy and society.

    Syllabus K227, Rise of Authoritarian Regimes, Learning Outcomes. Explain the rise of authoritarian regimes and their impact on the political, economic and social context of countries.

Make a guess

Unemployment fell sharply in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. What do you think happened to workers' rights at the same time?

  1. They were taken away: free unions and strikes were banned.
  2. They stayed the same, since jobs and rights are separate issues.
  3. They grew, because the Nazis promised to protect working people from bosses.
Show the answer

They were taken away: free unions and strikes were banned.

The Nazi-run Labour Front replaced trade unions, so workers could not bargain freely, even as more of them had jobs.

More Germans found work under the Nazis, but workers lost their rights and the economy was geared towards war.

Unemployment fell under the Nazis for several reasons. The state paid for public works, such as motorway building. It also paid for rearmament: a bigger army and more weapons and military supplies. Rearmament became especially important. From 1935, conscription, compulsory military service, also took young men off the jobless lists.

For someone who had been out of work, a job brought income and security. This won the regime support, or made people put up with policies they disliked. Nazi publicity used new roads and falling unemployment to claim Hitler had made Germany strong again. Those claims must be tested against working conditions and different groups' experiences.

Workers lost free trade unions and the right to strike. The Nazi-run German Labour Front replaced them, so workers could not bargain freely with employers. Strength through Joy offered holidays and leisure. Beauty of Labour improved some workplaces. But these did not give back the right to organise, and average weekly working hours in factories rose in the mid-1930s.

In 1936, the Four Year Plan pushed more resources towards preparing for war. Hitler wanted autarky, meaning Germany would make its own key materials and rely less on imports. His secret memo demanded that the army and economy be ready for war within four years. It shows what he wanted, not that Germany actually became self-sufficient.

Judge the policy by asking who gained, what they gained and what they lost. Jobs mattered, but so did pay, hours, safety and the freedom to stand up for workers. Jewish Germans were pushed out of work and persecuted. A fall in unemployment does not describe everyone's experience.

Why jobs rose
Public works, rearmament and conscription from 1935.
German Labour Front
Replaced free unions; workers could not strike.
Four Year Plan, 1936
Prepare the economy for war; aim for autarky.

Real examples to use

Unemployment falls, 1933 to 1938

Registered unemployment fell from about 6 million in early 1933 to under half a million by 1938, though the regime also changed how people were counted.

Conscription, 16 March 1935

Hitler announced compulsory military service and an army of 36 divisions, about 550,000 men, five times the 100,000 allowed by Versailles.

Worked example: A job is only one part of life

A claim says: unemployment fell, so every worker was better off in every way.

  1. A new job is a real gain in income and security.
  2. But the worker has lost the right to join a free union or strike.
  3. And persecuted groups were pushed out of work. So the claim is too simple.

Watch out for this

The motorways ended unemployment by themselves, and workers gained rights.

Rearmament and conscription mattered more. Workers lost free unions and the right to strike.

Check your understanding

What did workers lose under the Nazis?

  1. Their jobs, as unemployment rose sharply after 1933.
  2. Their holidays, as the regime ended paid leisure and outings for workers.
  3. Free trade unions and the right to strike.
Show the answer

Free trade unions and the right to strike.

Yes. The German Labour Front replaced independent unions.

Check your understanding

How did the Nazis reduce unemployment after 1933?

  1. Public works, rearmament and conscription created jobs; some groups were left out of the figures.
  2. By encouraging unemployed workers to emigrate to new farms in eastern Europe and South America.
  3. By raising workers' wages sharply so that spending created new jobs.
Show the answer

Public works, rearmament and conscription created jobs; some groups were left out of the figures.

Women and Jews pushed out of work were not counted, so the fall was partly hidden.

Sources and context

Background reading for this chapter.

  • Hitler asks for trust

    Paraphrase of Hitler's radio appeal on behalf of the new Reich government, 1 February 1933, reproduced by GHDI.

  • USHMM, Enabling Act; law translated from Reichsgesetzblatt I, 1933, p141

    Paraphrase of Articles 1-3 of the Enabling Act, promulgated 24 March 1933; text translated from the official law gazette by USHMM.

  • Wels opposes the Act

    Paraphrase of SPD leader Otto Wels' Reichstag speech, 23 March 1933, as reproduced in the German Bundestag historical exhibition, p2.

  • workers' mixed responses

    Paraphrase of a Central Germany report commissioned by the exiled Social Democratic leadership (Sopade), September 1938; published in GHDI.

  • Hitler's confidential memorandum on autarky, August 1936, GHDI

    Paraphrase of the concluding instructions in Hitler's confidential memorandum on autarky, August 1936, published in GHDI.

  • a Nazi election poster, July 1932

    An original poster drawn for these notes in the style of Nazi Party posters for the Reichstag election of 31 July 1932. It is not a copy of a real poster, but its promises match what Nazi posters of that campaign offered unemployed voters.

  • the Enabling Act, March 1933

    Extract from the "Law to remove the distress of people and State" (the Enabling Act), 24 March 1933, signed by President Hindenburg and Chancellor Hitler. English translation of document 2001-PS from Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, volume IV, published by the US Office of Chief Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality (1946); text from the Avalon Project.

  • the American ambassador reports, 30 June 1934

    Extract from a telegram from William Dodd, US Ambassador in Germany, to the Secretary of State, Berlin, 30 June 1934, 5 p.m., sent on the day the purge began. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1934, volume II, document 194. A US government document in the public domain.

  • the ambassador looks again, 2 July 1934

    Extract from a telegram from Ambassador Dodd to the Secretary of State, Berlin, 2 July 1934, two days later. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1934, volume II, document 197. A US government document in the public domain.

  • the German Foreign Minister explains, July 1934

    Extract from a telegram from Ambassador Dodd to the Secretary of State, Berlin, 6 July 1934, reporting what the German Foreign Minister, Konstantin von Neurath, told him. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1934, volume II, document 199. A US government document in the public domain.

The Wise Otter

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