Berenice Ings – Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany 1919-63
The impact of war and defeat on Germany
1939-49
The War Economy
• economic depression issued December 1939
• Military spending doubled 1939-1941
• Food rationing
• Labour force mobilised for war - 55% of workforce war related
• Despite this, armaments remained low - planes increased 8,290 1939 to
10780 in 1941
• Inefficiency and poor coordination - lack of central control, agencies all
had different aims and interests
• Labour shortage, may 1939, 24.5 million dropped to 20.5 in 1940 -
conscription
• Called in foreign workers - had to police, more workers
• Considered calling up women - upset soldiers, lose morale
Rationing
• introduced early in the war
• 2/5 Germans ate more healthily
• Clothes + soap ration, toilet paper not available and hot water only every 2
days
• Food rations increased for Christmas 1942
• However - total war 1943 - sweet shops closed
• August 1943, clothes rationing ended – government stopped
manufacturing civilian clothes
• Ration cards not valued - black market
Goebbels, Speer and total war
• Production shortages were bigger problem by 1942
• Hitler issued the rationalisation degree which was intended to reform the
economy and eliminate waste
• Speer appointed minister of armaments
• Central planning board introduced policies
1. Using concentration camp prisoners as workers
2. Employing women in armament factories
3. Eliminating things that didn’t contribute to the war effort
• Goebbels called for total war after defeat in Stalingrad
• Initially Speer’s policy seemed successful
- tanks rose 25%, ammunition 97% and arms 59%
• However, despite this, Speer handicapped for numerous reasons
1. Party Gauleiters prevented ordered
2. SS exploited lands for personal gain
1
, Berenice Ings – Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany 1919-63
3. Lands plundered rather than exploited
4. Impact of allowed bombing
The impact of bombing on the economy
• Drove citizens to leave cities to rural areas
• Attack on Hamburg - 30,000 killed
• Raids on Dresden, Feb 1945 - 150,000 killed, 70% of property
• Overall 600,000 died
• Prevented levels of production from rising further
• Industrial destruction - locating sights underground
The impact of bombing on morale on the home front
• Did acknowledge set backs in fighting - rallied the people
• Little evidence in collapse in morale, increased resentment of the enemy
• Goebbels gained popularity by visiting the sites
• May 1945 - still keen to continue
1. Fear of invasion of soviet roots
2. Feared consequences of racial policies towards jews
3. Shared Hitler’s vision of the future
• Towards end, more about own personal survival rather than the fighting
To what extent did opposition and resistance develop during the war?
• Toward the end, July bomb plot, that opposition became a serious threat
Nazi youth lost support
- leaders called to fight, leaving young to lead
- Emphasis on military affairs put people off
• Alternatives - swing youth, edelweiss pirates
• White rose - printed leaflets to discourage people from helping in the war
effort and nazi policies towards Jewish
Church - some individuals
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer - in plot to assassinate Hitler
Germany’s upper class - civil service
• Opposition in the army grew to the military failings of winter of 1942/43 -
Kreisau circle
• Most significant opposition, influential members - Wanted to form a
government that would’ve been acceptable to the Western allies hoping to
ending war in the west
• Plot to assassinate Hitler - Ludwig, Dr Carl Goerdeler, Colonel Von
Stauffenberg - operation Valkyrie or July bomb plot failed
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