Nazi Policies and their impact

Social Policy
Impact on different groups (including use and impact of propaganda)
Impact on consolidation of power

Stripped of trade unions with which to engage in collective bargaining for wages and working
conditions and forbidden to strike, German workers were provided by the government with
the alternative of organisations such as the “Strength through Joy” movement under the
supervision of the German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront/DAF), which the Nazis
introduced after the prohibition of independent trade unions in 1933. Harmony in the
workplace was meant to produce social peace and increased production in the national
interest.
In 1949 in the Federal Republic of Germany, a survey conducted by the Institute für
Demoskopie (Public Opinion Institute) entitled “Consequences of National Socialism”
reported many of the respondents looked back on the Nazi regime with some fondness in
relation to the social and economic provisions it offered, claiming:
“The guaranteed pay packet, order, KdF and the smooth running of the political
machinery… Thus National Socialism makes them think merely of work, adequate
nourishment… and the absence of disarray in political life.”
Nazi terror and the destruction produced by Hitler’s foreign policy, while obviously
acknowledged, formed only a subsidiary part of the reminiscences of those polled. Loss of
personal freedom under the regime was compensated for by perceived material benefits that
were enjoyed in comparison to the last years of Weimar.
For Schoenbaum, this type of selective appraisal of the National Socialist state by those who
lived through it (and who were not targeted) was an example of “interpreted social reality” as
opposed to the grimness of “objective social reality” – a process in which the era of National
Socialism was remembered as:
“… a society united like no other in recent German history, a society of opportunities
for young and old, classes and masses, a society that was Now Deal and good old days
at the same time … a world of … authoritarian paternalism … of national purpose and
achievement …”

The Nazis were hostile to the idea of social welfare in principle, upholding instead the Social
Darwinist concept that the weak and feeble should perish. They condemned the welfare
system of the Weimar Republic as well as private charity, accusing them of supporting people
regarded as racially inferior and weak, who should have been weeded out in the process of
natural selection. Nevertheless, faced with the mass unemployment and poverty of the Great
Depression, the Nazis found it necessary to set up charitable institutions to help racially-pure
Germans in order to maintain popular support, while arguing that this represented "racial self-
help" and not indiscriminate charity or universal social welfare. Thus, Nazi programs such as
the Winter Relief of the German People and the broader National Socialist People's Welfare
(NSV) were organized as quasi-private institutions, officially relying on private donations
from Germans to help others of their race - although in practice those who refused to donate
could face severe consequences. Unlike the social welfare institutions of the Weimar
Republic and the Christian charities, the NSV distributed assistance on explicitly racial
grounds. It provided support only to those who were "racially sound, capable of and willing to
work, politically reliable, and willing and able to reproduce." Non-Aryans were excluded, as
well as the "work-shy", "asocials" and the "hereditarily ill." Successful efforts were made to
get middle-class women involved in social work assisting large families, and the Winter
Relief campaigns acted as a ritual to generate public sympathy. Meanwhile, in addition to
being excluded from receiving aid under these programs, the physically disabled and
homeless were actively persecuted, being labeled “life unworthy of life” or “useless eaters.”

The Nazis banned all trade unions that existed before their rise to power, and replaced them
with the German Labour Front (DAF), controlled by the Nazi Party. They also outlawed
strikes and lockouts. The stated goal of the German Labour Front was not to protect workers,
but to increase output, and it brought in employers as well as workers. Journalist and historian
William L. Shirer wrote that it was "a vast propaganda organization...a gigantic fraud."
Meanwhile, the Chamber of Economics (whose president was appointed by the Reich
minister of economics) absorbed all existing chambers of commerce. By 1934 these two
groups merged somewhat when the Chamber of Economics also became the economics
department of the DAF. To aid this, a board of trustees run by representatives of the Nazi
Party, the DAF and the Chamber of Economics was set up to centralize their economic
activity.

When it came to retail and small business, in order to coordinate workers and small
businessmen, shop councils and the so-called Courts of Honour were set up to monitor retail
units. Unlike Italian Fascism, Nazism perceived workers and employers in each enterprise as
families; each with different roles. This was shown in their tax structure. The Nazis allowed
industries to deduct from their taxable income all sums used to purchase new equipment. Rich
families employing a maid were allowed to count the maid as a dependent child and reap the
tax benefit.

Social Policies
Winterhilfswerk
 acted as a ritual to generate public sympathy
Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt (NSV)
 assistance on explicitly racial grounds, different to institutions in Weimar Republic
 non-Aryans were excluded, as well as the "work-shy", "asocials" and the "hereditarily
ill”
Trade unions were banned and replaced with the Deutsche Arbeitsfront DAF (controlled by
Nazi Party)
 Journalist and historian William L. Shirer: "a vast propaganda organization...a gigantic
fraud."
Despite the loss of freedom, life improved in Germany for many ordinary people who were
prepared to conform in order to have a job and a wage.
physically disabled and homeless were actively persecuted, being labeled “life unworthy of
life” or “useless eaters.”

Women and Nazis

During 1920s: significant progress for women in Weimar Germany

 equal voting rights
 increase in women taking professional roles
 independent leisure activities.
However: Nazis had clear ideas of what they wanted from women.
They were expected to stay at home, look after the family and produce children in order to
secure the future of the ‘Aryan race’.
Hitler believed women’s lives should revolve around the three Ks.
Women relegated to "Kinder, Küche, Kirche".
Marriage and family
Hitler: high birth rate so that Aryan population would grow.

 introducing ‘Law for the Encouragement of Marriage’ 1933 (gave newlywed couples a
loan of 1,000 marks, and allowed them to keep 250 marks for each child they had)
 giving an award called the ‘Mother’s Cross’ to women with large numbers of children.
 allowing women to volunteer through ‘Lebensborn’ to have a baby for an Aryan
member of the SS

Employment
Measures to discourage women from working:
 introduction of ‘Law for the Reduction of Unemployment’, which gave women financial
incentives to stay at home
 not conscripting women to help in the war effort until 1943
However, female labour was cheap and between 1933 and 1939 the number of women in
employment actually rose by 2.4 million. As the German economy grew, women were
needed in the workplace. The resulting number of women in the workforce ultimately far
exceeded that of the Weimar Republic.

Appearance
Women were expected to emulate traditional German peasant fashions - plain peasant
costumes, hair in plaits or buns and flat shoes. They were not expected to wear make-up or
trousers, dye their hair or smoke in public. They were discouraged from staying slim,
because it was thought that thin women had trouble giving birth.

Propaganda:
One of the most important tools used to shape the beliefs and attitudes of the German public.
Through posters, film, radio, museum exhibits, and other media, they bombarded the
German public with messages designed to build support for and gain acceptance of their
vision for the future of Germany.
 Shortly after rising to power in 1933, Adolf Hitler created the Reich Ministry of Public
Enlightenment and Propaganda.
 Nearly all aspects of German culture were subject to the Propaganda Ministry's
control, including films, theater, music, the press, and radio broadcasts.
 Goebbels quickly set out an ambitious agenda to indoctrinate the German people in
Nazi ideology and to influence the behavior of the entire society.
 The principles of Nazism, including the antisemitism at the core of much of its dogma,
were incorporated into nearly every newspaper, radio broadcast, and film produced in
the Third Reich.
 These carefully-crafted messages were designed to mobilize the German population
to support all Nazi military and social efforts, including the deportation of Jews and
others to concentration camps.
Religion

Nazi policies towards the Catholic and Protestant Churches

Hitler saw Christianity as a threat and a potential source of opposition to Nazism because it
emphasised peace. The Nazis tried to control the Churches with policies and bargaining.

Control of the Churches

A state Reich Church under the leadership of the Nazi Bishop, Ludwig Müller was
established to unify the different branches of Protestantism. This enabled the Nazis to use a
group called the ‘German Christians’ within the Reich Church to promote Nazi ideas.
In 1933 Hitler agreed a Concordat with the Pope, which said that he would not interfere in the
running of the Catholic Church if it stayed out of political matters. Hitler didn’t keep his side of
the bargain, however, as the Nazis attempted to infiltrate the Church and spread their
propaganda.

Nazi attempts to suppress the Churches

Many protestants opposed the Reich Church, and in 1934 Martin Niemöller established the
Confessional Church and openly attacked the Nazi regime. He was arrested and sent to a
concentration camp in 1937. Eight hundred Pastors of the Confessional Church were
arrested and sent to concentration camps.
The Nazis attempted to stop Catholics using the crucifix in church, though this was not
successful. Catholic schools and youth organisations were supressed, with German children
being educated in state schools and taught a Nazi curriculum, as well as being expected to
join the various branches of the Hitler Youth.
Catholic newspapers were banned and in 1937, Pope Pius XI publicly criticised the Nazis
and as a result over 400 Catholic priests were sent to the Dachau concentration camp.

Impact of the Nazis actions

In 1937, Hitler was forced to return control of the Church to the old Protestant leadership, in
return for a promise that the Church would stay out of politics.
Attendance at Catholic churches increased substantially under the Nazis, especially during
World War Two, showing that Hitler’s attempts to reduce the influence of religion in Germany
were ultimately unsuccessful.
Both Protestant and Catholic clergy played a large role in opposing Hitler and the Nazis, for
which they often paid a high price.

Deutsch:
Nazi-Politik gegenüber den katholischen und protestantischen Kirchen
In Deutschland gab es 1933 etwa 45 Millionen Protestanten und 22 Millionen katholische
Christen. Hitler betrachtete das Christentum als Bedrohung und mögliche Quelle der
Opposition gegen den Nationalsozialismus, weil es den Frieden betonte. Die Nazis
versuchten, die Kirchen mit Politik und Verhandlungen zu kontrollieren.

Kontrolle der Kirchen

Eine staatliche Reichskirche unter der Leitung des Nazi-Bischofs Ludwig Müller wurde
gegründet, um die verschiedenen Zweige des Protestantismus zu vereinen. Dies ermöglichte
es den Nazis, innerhalb der Reichskirche eine Gruppe namens "Deutsche Christen" zu
benutzen, um Nazi-Ideen zu fördern.
1933 einigte sich Hitler mit dem Papst auf ein Konkordat, in dem er sagte, dass er sich nicht
in die Führung der katholischen Kirche einmischen würde, wenn sie sich aus politischen
Angelegenheiten heraushalten würde. Hitler hielt sich jedoch nicht an den Handel, als die
Nazis versuchten, die Kirche zu infiltrieren und ihre Propaganda zu verbreiten.

Nazi-Versuche, die Kirchen zu unterdrücken

Die Reichskirche versuchte den Gebrauch des Alten Testaments im Gottesdienst zu verbieten,
da es als "jüdisches Buch" galt. Viele Protestanten waren gegen die Reichskirche, und 1934
gründete Martin Niemöller die Bekennende Kirche und griff das Nazi-Regime offen an. Er
wurde verhaftet und 1937 in ein Konzentrationslager geschickt. Achthundert Pastoren der
Bekennenden Kirche, eine nicht konforme protestantische Gruppe, wurden verhaftet und in
Konzentrationslager gebracht.
Die Nazis versuchten die Katholiken davon abzuhalten, das Kruzifix in der Kirche zu
benutzen, obwohl dies nicht erfolgreich war. Katholische Schulen und Jugendorganisationen
wurden unterdrückt, deutsche Kinder wurden an staatlichen Schulen ausgebildet, lehrten
einen nationalsozialistischen Lehrplan und sollten sich den verschiedenen Zweigen der
Hitlerjugend anschließen.
Katholische Zeitungen wurden verboten und Papst Pius XI. Kritisierte 1937 öffentlich die
Nazis, und infolgedessen wurden über 400 katholische Priester ins KZ Dachau gebracht.

Auswirkungen der NS-Aktionen

Im Jahr 1937 war Hitler gezwungen, die Kontrolle der Kirche an die alte protestantische
Führung zurückzugeben, als Gegenleistung für ein Versprechen, dass die Kirche aus der
Politik bleiben würde.
Die Präsenz in den katholischen Kirchen nahm vor allem während des Zweiten Weltkriegs
unter den Nazis erheblich zu und zeigte, dass Hitlers Versuche, den Einfluss der Religion in
Deutschland zu reduzieren, letztlich erfolglos blieben.
Sowohl der protestantische als auch der katholische Klerus spielten eine große Rolle im
Kampf gegen Hitler und die Nazis, für die sie oft einen hohen Preis bezahlten.

Persecution of minorities

Hitler and the Nazis had firm views on race. They believed that certain groups were inferior
and were a threat to the purity of the Aryan race. There were many groups who were
targeted for persecution, including Slavs (Eastern Europeans), gypsies, gay people and
disabled people - but none more so than the Jews.
In 1933, there was a small but growing number of black people living in Germany, they were
also persecuted by the Nazis. They suffered forced sterilization, medical experimentation,
incarceration, brutality and, sometimes, were murdered. However, there was no systematic
programme for their elimination as there was for Jews and other groups.

Nazi racial beliefs

The Nazis’ racial philosophy taught that Aryans were the master race and that some races
were untermensch/sub-human. Many Nazi scientists at this time believed in eugenics, the
idea that people with disabilities or social problems were degenerates whose genes needed
to be eliminated from the human bloodline. The Nazis pursued eugenics policies vigorously.

Policy of persecution
 Sterilisation - In order to keep the Aryan race pure, many groups were prevented
from reproducing. The mentally and physically disabled, including the deaf, were
sterilised, as were people with hereditary diseases. Children born to German women
and French African soldiers in the Rhineland at the end of World War One were
called 'Rhineland Bastards' and also sterilised.
 Concentration camps - Homosexuals, prostitutes, Jehovah's Witnesses, gypsies,
alcoholics, pacifists, beggars, hooligans and criminals were often rounded up and
sent away to camps. During World War Two, 85 per cent of Germany's gypsies died
in these camps.

Youth movements and education:

 Nazis tried to brainwash the German population
 Believed that way to success was to brainwash the youth
 Education was controlled by the state and aimed at people believing the Nazis
 Teachers had to go through evaluation to see if they were suitable for the “National
Socialist Teachers’ Leauge” (anti - Nazi and Jewish teachers were fired)
 History was taught to glorify Germany
 Very “pro - Nazi” bias
 Girls attended classes where they were taught how to be good wives and mothers
 Boys were encouraged to join youth groups (Burschenschaften) which taught survival
and military techniques

Economic Policy
Foreign Policy