Success of Nazi Economic Policies

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Assess the extent to which Nazi economic policies in the period 1933-1939 were successful. [35] Hitler’s economic policy was intended to in the short term: reduce unemployment, help the farmers, help the lower middle-classes. In the long term its intention was to create Wehrwirtschaft, making Germany ready for war through rearmament and achieving autarky. These two aims were linked since autarky would reduce the amount Germany had to pay for ordinary imports and allow more to be spent on import of raw materials for rearmament. To reduce unemployment there was a large scale investment un public work schemes. Approximately 5 billion RM were spent on public works in the period 1932-1935. The National Labour Service and Emergency Relief schemes put thousands of people back to work. Unemployment fell from 25.9% in 1933 to 7.4% in 1936. With the help of the rearmament programme, unemployment was virtually eliminated by 1939. While government investment was the most important factor in this, the improvement in the world economy also helped. To help the farmers the Reich Food estate was set up in September 1933. It reorganised food production and fixed crop prices. Laws were passed to guarantee small farmers continued ownership of their farms. This hindered the development of more efficient farming and prevented the drive to achieve self- sufficiency in food production from being successful. To satisfy the Mittlestand the Law for the Protection of the Retail Trade forbade the extension of department stores. This was, however, a very limited measure since Hitler needed the support of big business. Initially, because the German banking system had been so fundamentally weakened, the state increasingly assumed greater responsibility for the control of the capital within the economy. It then proceeded to set interest rates at a lower level and to reschedule the large-
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