HSC Core Study: Power and Authority in the Modern World

Workers

Part of the Nazification of German society meant banning or reorganising any groups that could potentially threaten or question the Party. Trade Unions had a large role in German society, even ending attempted Putsches in the 1920’s. Soon after the Nazis came to power they granted the Unions a May Day holiday (a traditional worker’s day) and then banned all unions on May 2, 1933.

The DAF (German Workers Front) was established as a Nazi led union replacement and membership was compulsory for most workers. Not joining meant severe restrictions on employment. The DAF handled negotiations between employers and workers. It was of benefit to workers because it gave job security, a particularly powerful benefit given the mass unemployment during the Depression.

Source 1- In 1936 Robert Ley, the head of the German Workers’ Front, addressed an audience on the Nazi economic recovery:

“We have accomplished enormous things in the over three years that we have been in power. I do not believe this evening would be long enough to list all the great successes that we have had. Two facts stand out: The German today has become an entirely different person! Whether worker, craftsman, farmer or member of the middle class, we are all entirely new people! There are a few holdovers from past times, there always have to be museum pieces, after all. They will gradually die out. The broad, large and great mass of our people has changed thoroughly. They have been transformed.

Look at the workers! Look with me into Germany’s factories. I might remind some in this room what they thought three years ago, not only about their party or the government, but of their whole view of life, their views of labor, the fatherland, their people, their community, or about socialism – all these things that have always concerned humanity. They will have to agree that they are of entirely different opinions today.

Hitler inspecting the convertible Beetle

Unemployment figures dropped dramatically under the Nazis, from 6000,000 in 1932 to 200,000 in 1939, however the figures did not completely represent employment accurately.

Jews and women were removed from professions, undesirables were sent to concentration camps in the tens of thousands, and from 1935, conscription was reintroduced and the army grew from 100,000 to over a million by 1939. Re-armament meant building tanks and other weapons soaked up many of the unemployed. Wages however, remained generally low.

Hitler, beyond keeping people busy and distracted, did not have much time for economic policy, preferring to allow businesses to run themselves without much Nazi interference. Some industries were encouraged for party purposes, such as the building of radios, and Volkswagen Beetles were promised as cheap transport for the masses. The radios were used for propaganda, and the Beetles were not produced for workers until after WW2.

Source 2- Working in the Nazi Germany

Source 3- RAD (Reichs Labour Service)

Men under 25 year old men were conscripted into Reichs Labour Servic (RAD) and worked on low paid work creation schemes like building the Autobahns. They were sent to work camps, did military drills, and wore uniforms. It was compulsory to complete six months service in the RAD.

Consider how useful Source 1 would be to a historian studying Nazi economic success? (Consider the perspective and reliability of the source)

Question to focus on for your mind map: Using sources 1,2 & 3 and your own understanding, assess the Nazi influence on workers

Further reading on work and the economy under the Nazis

https://alphahistory.com/nazigermany/nazi-economicrecovery/

https://www.slideshare.net/mrmarr/1-stimulatingeconomic-recovery

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