1. The Slump 1 The Response in Germany

2. Structure of lecture Causes / consequences of Slump German responses under Nazism –Job creation –Family policies –Social protection –Racism, sexism and health policy –Social repression and policing Conclusion: Nazism and modernity

3. World War 1 and its Aftermath Collapse of European empires Russian revolution spreads 1917-20 Treaty of Versailles: –USA & creation national democracies –French demands for reparations –Weimar Republic created in Germany Post-war economic instability –German default on repayments and French occupation of the Ruhr (1921) - inflation

4. International provenance 1930s Slump Structure of international debt post-1918 Wall Street Crash (1929): share price collapse –Loss of confidence follows mass speculation –Run on banks: recall international debts –International run on gold: –Reduced money supply – trade slump Reaction: mass currency devaluation (1931-4) and tariff barriers raised Falling volume of world trade

5. Germany 1929-40 Worst casualty –8-9 million out of work –Value of overseas trade drops 50% Radical electorate: economic instability –Rise of KPD / NPD: both anti-Weimar –Hitler elected 1933: slogan ‘Bread and work’ Policy target = Volksgemeinschaft (repudiation of class conflict)

7. Nazi Social Policy: job creation (1933-6) Continues of schemes started by Von Papen Waterways, road, bridges, railways. Grants/loans for house building/repair Tax exemption to industry hiring extra men Migration from country to town halted Promotion motor transport (Volkswagon) Preference to married men and long-term unemployed Youth: labour/military service & Hitler Youth

10. Industrial rationalisation Cartels created and technology promoted Nationalisation of aviation, aluminium, petro-chemicals etc. (key sectors) 1934: ‘New Plan’ of four year industrial expansion Autarchy promoted through investment in industrial import-substitution Protectionism

13. Family Policy (get women off the labour market) Marriage loans provided if wife leaves labour market for good Loan repaid over time, but debt reduction x number of children produced Loan = tokens to be exchanged for household goods Medals for reproduction: –Bronze= 6 –Silver = 8 –Gold = 10

16. “ Work makes you free” Social insurance nationalised under party control: Unemployment fund used for job creation Plans for tax-funded pensions (1940s) DAF (Labour Front) replaces TUs –Promotes firm-based welfare –Prize lists of ‘good’ employers Unemployment disappears

18. Paying for it Wages centrally determined (no wage bargaining) Party controls central bank (& credit) Debt repayment renegotiated / repudiated Post-1935: rearmament and autarky –Import substitution –Closed trade pacts (Balkans: S. America) –Reichsmark kept off foreign exchanges Reinforces Pan-Germanism and Lebensraum

19. The downside: the police state Loss of democratic rights –KPD / SPD eradicated –No free trade unions –Post 1934 (Reichstag fire), no elections Racism –Social policies to improve German stock –Eradication moral / physical ‘deviants’ (prelude to Holocaust) Police (established and SS) under party control and rule of law disappears

20. Conclusions Nazi modernity: the new –Futurist/ imperial architecture : –High tech economy & industrial modernisation –Triumph of scientific imperative The traditional –Traditional family: domestication of women –Creation of the 1000-year Empire (subordination of inferior races – egs of UK and USA – as guarantor of social progress)