1. WHAT WAS LIFE LKE
UNDER THE NAZI REGIME?

2. ECONOMIC POLICIES
• Economic Policies:
– Nazis introduced a four-year plan:
• To move Germany towards ‘autarky’ or economic
independence.
– provided subsidies for industry.
• More importantly, it was a way to prepare
Germany for war.
• Factories were set up to produce arms and
ammunition.
• Production rose for explosives, coal and steel

3. ECONOMIC POLICIES
• Agricultural reforms:
– Set up the ‘Reich Food Estate’ – To regulate
production, distribution, prices of crops and animals.
• Strict control of farmers – One law stated that hens must lay
65 eggs a year!
– Meant that the government could control food
production.
– Food prices were maintained at 1928 levels.
– 1933 Farm Law – Farmers assured of sales and
subsidies.

4. ECONOMIC POLICIES
• Employment:
– In June 1933, the Nazis passed a Law to Reduce Unemployment.
– The RAD (National Labour Service) sent men on public works; eg
the autobahns.
– Government spending rose, 1932–38 from about 5 billion to 30
billion marks.
– Unemployment fell from nearly 6 million to virtually nothing.
– Suppressed trade unions and set up the German labour front or
the DAF.
– Hitler built up the armed forces (e.g. conscription took 1 million
unemployed).
– The soldiers needed equipment, so this set steel mills, coal mines
and factories back into production. The Luftwaffe gave jobs to
fitters, engineers and designers.
– The Nazi state machinery needed thousands of clerks, prison
guards etc.

5. SOCIAL POLICIES
• Women:
– Nazis saw the role of women as good mothers who
were responsible for bringing up their children at
home, while husbands worked.
– The Law for the Encouragement of Marriage gave
newly-wed couples a loan of 1000 marks, and
allowed them to keep 250 marks for each child
they had.
– Mothers who had more than 8 children were given
a gold medal.
– But not all women were happy with the Nazi
regime:
– Job-discrimination against women was
encouraged. Women doctors, teachers and civil
servants were forced to give up their careers.
– Women were never allowed to serve in the armed
forces - even during the war.

6. CHILDREN AND YOUTH
• Nazis saw the need to cultivate
hardworking, obedient and healthy Aryan
citizens for the future:
– Exerted control over children’s lives – e.g.
toys, games, exposure to propaganda.
– Exerted control over schools and curriculum.
– Creation of Hitler Youth and BDM (the League
of German Girls):
• Further exposed children to the ‘cult’ of Adolf
Hitler.
• Provided activities for boys.
• Treated boys and girls as special.
• Created fear amongst parents that their children
would report them to the Gestapo.
• Many of these youths would eventually end up
in the German Army during the Second World
War.

7. PROPAGANDA
• Germans were subjected to constant stream
of propaganda under the control of Josef
Gobbels.
• Glorified Hitler and the Nazis and also used
to indoctrinate people and justify Nazi
policies.
• Use of all forms of media such as the radio,
movies, posters and even stamps to put
their message across.
• Censorship of other sources of news.

8. One People, One Nation,
One Fuhrer. 1938
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Anti-Jewish Poster
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Anti-Communist Poster
Source: www.bbc.co.uk

9. STATE TERROR
• Nazis had full control over the state apparatus:
– SS as the main security force – suppression of the
SA.
– Gestapo – The secret police
– Concentration camps
– Network of informants – Block Warden System.
• By 1939, most of the Nazis’ opponents had gone
into exile, were imprisoned or had adopted a
view of silent acquiescence.

10. ANTI-SEMITISM
• Jewish people were persecuted in an
increasingly organised manner:
– Anti-Jewish laws.
– Discrimination against Jewish people
• ‘Crystal Night’ or Kristallnacht – Organised
Nazi attack against Jews.

11. EFFECTS ON THE GERMAN
PEOPLE
• Nazi party members:
– Benefited the most from the rule.
• Ordinary German people:
– Benefits:
• Full employment;
• Strength through joy programme: Free holidays, sports facilities,
subsidised cars.
• Law and order.
• Improved transportation network
• Nazi propaganda gave hope
• Trust in Hitler
• Nazi racial philosophy gave Germans a sense of self-belief.
– Problems:
• Loss of freedom
• Low wages

12. EFFECTS ON THE GERMAN
PEOPLE
• Nazi party members:
– Benefited the most from the rule.
• Ordinary German people:
– Benefits:
• Full employment;
• Strength through joy programme: Free holidays, sports facilities,
subsidised cars.
• Law and order.
• Improved transportation network
• Nazi propaganda gave hope
• Trust in Hitler
• Nazi racial philosophy gave Germans a sense of self-belief.
– Problems:
• Loss of freedom
• Low wages

13. EFFECTS ON THE GERMAN
PEOPLE
• Women:
– Not all women liked the Nazi emphasis which
consigned them to “Church, Children, Cooking’
– Many professionals who were female, e.g. lawyers
and doctors were forced to give up their jobs.
• Youth:
– Nazis’ approach did not appeal to all youths,
eventually led to the formation of youth gangs who
rejected Nazi culture and the Hitler Youth.
– Some “Aryan” girls were sent to special camps to
breed with “Aryan” boys.

14. EFFECTS ON THE GERMAN
PEOPLE
• Opponents:
– Hitler banned all Trade Unions on 2 May
1933.
– Communists were arrested or killed.
– Religious leaders, e.g. Protestant pastors
were persecuted and killed.
– Many of those who showed unhappiness or
opposed Hitler were reported to the Gestapo
and arrested.

15. EFFECTS ON THE GERMAN
PEOPLE.
• The Untermensch or the ‘Sub Human’
– Jews persecuted, sent to the concentration camps.
– Gypsies also treated as badly as the Jews. 85% of
German gypsies were killed.
– Mentally disabled were also killed.
– Physically disabled were sterilised.
– Anti-social elements, e.g. criminals, prostitutes,
alcoholics, pacifists were all put into concentration
camps.

16. EFFECTS OF NAZI RULE
• Many people did benefit from Nazi rule and preferred
the stability offered by Nazi rule compared to the
instability of the Weimar Republic.
• However, Nazi rule involved much persecution and rule
through state terror and the loss of personal freedom.
• Nazi rule also subjected the German people to
indoctrination through propaganda and the various Nazi
organisations such as the Hitler Youth.
• Minorities were subject to persecution by the Nazis.
• Nazi rule set Germany on a collision course with the rest
of the world in World War 2.