Lesson video

Hello, welcome to History here at Oak National Academy.

My name's Mr. Newton, and I'll be your teacher today, guiding you through the entire lesson.

Right, let's get started.

In the early 1930s, Germany was on its knees.

Millions were unemployed, businesses were collapsing, and hope was in short supply.

Into this crisis stepped Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, offering not just jobs, but a vision of rebirth.

But how real was a Nazi economic miracle? And could unemployment truly be solved? By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to describe Nazi policies regarding employment.

Before we begin, there are a few keywords that we need to understand.

Autarky means economic independence, not needing to trade with other countries.

And the Reich Labour Service, or RAD, was a compulsory work programme for young men involving manual labour and military-style discipline.

Rearmament is the process of supplying yourself with new weapons, especially in order to become a strong military power again.

And conscription is the actual process of forcing people by law to join the armed services.

Today's lesson is titled "Employment in Nazi Germany," and we'll split this lesson into two main parts.

In the first part, reducing unemployment, we'll start by looking at the Nazi public works schemes.

This includes the creation of massive projects like the autobahns and the Reich labour service, which promised work, but came with strict discipline and no pay.

In the second part, rearmament and invisible unemployment, we move on to how rearming Germany played an even bigger role in creating jobs, but would also uncover the hidden side of the story, how unemployment figures were manipulated, and how certain groups were deliberately excluded from the statistics.

Right, let's begin the lesson with reducing unemployment: RAD and the autobahns.

When Adolf Hitler took power in January 1933, his vision was to build a powerful and self-sufficient empire based on autarky.

At the time, however, Germany was far from self-sufficient.

The Great Depression had devastated the economy.

Factories were silent, unemployment was sky high, and food and raw materials had to be imported from abroad.

You can see this in the diagram.

We can see a map of Germany and we can see all the raw materials and food that the neighbouring countries have to trade.

These purple arrows show how Germany relied heavily on having to buy essential goods, such as oil, timber, iron or steel, and food to keep Germany going.

Hitler believed this dependence made Germany weak.

Many Germans placed their hopes in the Nazis to revive the nation.

Hitler's solution wasn't just about fixing the economy, it was about preparing for war.

His economic plan aimed to reduce unemployment and build military strength.

For Hitler's plan to work, he needed to expand Germany's territory.

These arrows show his long-term goal: to use military power to push outward, conquer neighbouring countries and take control of their resources.

The soldiers represent that this economic expansion would come through military force.

So while Hitler acted to reduce unemployment, it also helped him with a bigger strategy: preparing Germany for war and territorial expansion.

And this final image shows the result of Hitler's vision.

By seizing land and resources from other countries, Germany could build what Hitler called the Third Reich, a self-sufficient empire no longer reliant on buying foreign goods.

Now the raw materials and food Germany once imported could be taken from conquered lands.

This fit perfectly with Hitler's belief in autarky and in his eyes, justified war as a tool of economic survival.

In other words, Nazi Germany's economic development depended on military expansion, helping to create a self-sufficient empire, the Third Reich.

This meant that Hitler's unemployment policies were part of a much wider plan, even if that plan would take time to unfold.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What was the broader aim of the Nazis' efforts to reduce unemployment? A, to build a militarised and self-sufficient empire based on autarky, B, to improve trade relations with the neighbouring countries of Germany, C, to promote equality between social classes and support wealthy business owners.

Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done if you knew the correct answer was A, to build a militarised and self-sufficient empire based on autarky.

In 1933, around six million people were unemployed.

By 1939, official unemployment fell to around 300,000.

Let's take a look at this graph.

It shows the official unemployment figures in Germany between 1933 and 1939.

In 1933, when Hitler came to power, unemployment was at its peak.

Over six million people were out of work, and that's the tallest bar on the left.

Now follow the bars across to the right, you'll notice there's a steady drop year after year, and by 1939, unemployment had fallen to around 300,000.

So it looks like a huge success.

But here's the key question: how did the Nazis reduce unemployment? The Nazi government launched a series of public work schemes.

These schemes took people without jobs and put them to work on building projects, such as roads, schools, and hospitals.

One of the most prominent of these efforts was the promotion of the Reich Labour Service.

In German, this was Reichsarbeitsdienst, or for short RAD.

Initially voluntary, the RAD functioned like a national work camp where young men were taught discipline through manual labour.

They wore uniforms, lived in barracks and performed tasks like planting forests, digging ditches, or building roads.

Take a look at this photograph.

It shows a group of young men from the RAD digging, most likely for a road or another infrastructure project, notice their uniform clothing and boots.

The RAD was run almost like a military camp.

Workers lived in barracks, followed strict routines and were expected to show discipline and obedience.

And we can see that the work was physically demanding and could be often repetitive.

It wasn't well paid, but it provided food, shelter, and for many, a sense of purpose in a time of desperation.

In 1935, the programme became compulsory for all young men aged 18 to 25.

The Nazis had tackled unemployment and placed similarly strict controls over the rest of the country.

Yet for many Germans, this repression seemed a fair price to pay for the visible end to mass unemployment and the promise of rising living standards.

For Hitler, the goal was clear: reducing unemployment not only boosted morale, but also trained obedient, disciplined men ready for military service.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What was the Reich Labour Service, RAD, in Nazi Germany? A, a compulsory labour programme for young men.

B, a secret military academy that trained boys in weapon use.

C, a welfare programme for unemployed women and children.

D, a voluntary travel scheme that gave young men jobs abroad.

Pause the video, have a think and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew the correct answer was that the RAD was A, a compulsory labour programme for young men.

Okay, let's continue.

So as part of his promise to end mass unemployment, Hitler launched a four-year plan aimed at revitalising Germany through large-scale public works.

By the end of 1933, over five billion Reichsmarks had been committed to infrastructure projects, such as railways, bridges, and housing.

The drive to reshape Germany through work projects reached its most iconic expression in the construction of the autobahns.

These were motorways.

The photograph on the left shows one of the first German autobahns taken in 1936.

At first glance, it might just look like a quiet stretch of motorway, but at the time, this was a revolutionary image.

Before the 1930s, most people in Germany were used to unpaved roads or slow travel and limited access to private cars.

Cars were still a luxury and motorways were almost unheard of.

These were feats of modern engineering, offering rapid travel between Germany's major cities.

More than just roads, they were grand spectacles that signalled a revived and modernising nation.

Photographs of men labouring side by side on the motorways filled Nazi newspapers while posters portrayed heroic engineers forging concrete paths through forests and mountains.

Nazi propaganda even likened the autobahns to the pyramids of the modern age, monuments to technological progress and national pride.

At a time when cars were still relatively new and not widely owned in Germany, the motorways captured the public imagination as bold symbols of the future.

Beyond their civilian appeal, they also had a strategic purpose, designed with military logistics in mind.

They could be used for a rapid troop movements if war ever came.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

Complete this sentence with the correct missing word.

The most iconic expression of the Nazi drive to reshape Germany through work projects were the blank, which represented grand spectacles of modern engineering.

Pause the video, fill in the blank and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and let's see how that sentence should have read.

The most iconic expression of the Nazi drive to reshape Germany through work projects were the autobahns, which represented grand spectacles of modern engineering.

Okay, great.

Let's move on to task A.

And I want you to identify and explain two causes of Nazi unemployment policies and two consequences of those policies for German society.

So we're looking for two causes and two consequences of Nazi unemployment policies.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done on having go at that task.

So there's many ways you could have answered that question, but compare your answers with the ones I have here.

So for the two causes of Nazi unemployment policies, you could have talked about the Great Depression.

Over six million people were unemployed and factories were shut down, and this made the Nazis focus on reducing unemployment to gain public support.

And this was a crucial part of the Nazis being elected.

However, another cause of Nazi employment policies was that Hitler aimed to create an economy based on autarky, and he needed to control the workforce and prepare the country for war by creating jobs linked to military and economic expansion.

Okay, let's move on to two consequences of those policies for German society.

You could have put that the Reich Labour Service, or the RAD, and this meant that men were forced to work for little or no pay.

Conditions were tough, and it gave them discipline to prepare for military service.

And a second consequence could be the big infrastructure projects, autobahns, and the four-year plan.

And these gave people jobs and also acted as symbols of progress, which boosted national pride.

Great, so we've now explored how the Nazis used public work schemes, like the RAD and the construction of the autobahns to reduce unemployment and reshape Germany's economy, and that this was part of a much bigger plan of Hitler to build an empire based on autarky, a self-sufficient empire.

Now let's move on to the second part of the lesson, rearmament and invisible unemployment.

And here we'll look at how the Nazis created jobs by building up their military and how they used clever manipulation of statistics to make unemployment appear lower than it actually was.

So even more significant than Hitler's infrastructure projects was his project to re-arm the country.

Germany began rebuilding its military strength through rearmament.

Although the Treaty of Versailles had forbidden Germany from maintaining a large army or producing many types of weapons, Hitler had no intention of complying.

Secretly at first and then more openly after 1935, Germany began rebuilding its military strength.

This effort required vast quantities of steel, coal, chemicals, and manpower.

Factories that once produced stoves or bicycles were retooled for war production, requiring extra workers to manufacture tanks, aircraft, and rifles.

In 1935, Hitler reintroduced conscription, further shrinking unemployment as young men were forced into the armed forces.

And we can see some conscripts in the photo taking the oath of allegiance to Hitler.

By 1939, around 1/4 of the German workforce was involved in the arms industry.

Rearmament didn't just provide jobs, it redefined them.

Engineers, machinists, and even clerical workers found new purpose in serving the Reich.

With large-scale construction and rearmament in full swing, Germany appeared to have staged a remarkable economic revival.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

In what ways did rearmament help to reduce unemployment in Nazi Germany? Select two correct answers.

Autobahns, it created jobs in arms factories.

B, it's provided free transport for all workers.

C, it reduced the number of hours in a working day.

D, it reintroduced conscription, drafting men into the army.

Pause the video, select two correct answers, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew that rearmament, A, created jobs in arms factories and D, reintroduced conscription, drafting men into the army and thereby reducing unemployment.

So historians disagree on the extent of the Nazi economic recovery.

Although the Nazi government invested heavily in job creation schemes and boosted employment through rearmament, many argue that the revival was only partially real and heavily exaggerated through propaganda and statistical manipulation.

So let's see why some historians argue that economic recovery was significant.

Let's look at this graph, which shows two key things between 1933 and 1939.

The pink bars represent unemployment while the green line shows government spending.

As we've already seen, unemployment falls sharply over this period.

From over six million in 1933, it's almost 300,000 by 1939.

And this looks like a huge success.

And now notice what happens to government spending.

The green line rises steadily and then very steeply after 1936.

And that's because the Nazi government was pouring money into public work schemes, building projects and rearmament.

And this means thousands of new jobs were created in arms factories and building roads, et cetera.

Some historians argue that this graph shows a real and significant economic recovery.

The scale of spending and the industrial growth it drove helped reduce unemployment and therefore boost the economy.

However, some historians argue that the Nazis used various tricks to make unemployment figures appear better than they were, such as creating what some historians refer to as invisible unemployment.

And this was done by excluding groups, such as women and Jewish people who were pushed out of the workforce but not counted in the statistics.

Essentially, the Nazis removed people from the unemployment statistics.

They were simply not counted, they were invisible.

The Nazi government also redefined employment through changes in law and policy.

They counted many enforced or poorly paid schemes, such as the RAD, as fully employed, even when their work was physically demanding, temporary or badly paid.

In other words, can someone really be counted as employed if they're barely being paid anything? Participation in these voluntary services was often compulsory in practise.

Those who refused risked losing welfare benefits, imprisonment or being forcibly assigned to jobs.

In other words, the Nazis brought in strict controls, which almost forced employment as the alternative was worse.

This not only discouraged unemployment registration, but also masked the true scale of economic hardship.

Conditions on many work sites, including the celebrated autobahn projects were harsh and often dangerous.

Some workers protested, some were arrested.

Yet these schemes helped the Nazis suppress dissent, absorb restless youth and prepare the population, especially young men, for military service.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

Which statements show why some historians argue that the Nazi economic recovery was only partially real? Select two correct answers.

A, the Nazis counted forced or low paid labour schemes as full employment.

B, the Nazis created invisible unemployment by excluding certain groups from statistics.

C, the Nazis successfully eliminated all poverty in Germany by 1939.

D, the Nazis encouraged all citizens to register for unemployment benefits.

Pause the video, select your two correct answers, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew the correct answers were A, the Nazis counted forced or low paid labour schemes as full employment, and B, the Nazis created invisible unemployment by excluding certain groups from statistics.

By 1939, Germany's apparent recovery was hailed as a miracle.

The Nazi government had delivered jobs, infrastructure and a renewed sense of national pride, much of it tied to military strength.

But behind the fanfare lay a darker truth.

The Nazis had seized strict control over the nation's workforce, not just to fight unemployment, but as a rehearsal for a future war.

Have a look at the photograph on the left.

This powerful image shows rows and rows of Nazi supporters standing in military formation at a rally.

An event like this was more than just a rally.

They were a rehearsal, a preview of the kind of total control that Nazis were building.

Everyone had a role to play and everything was geared towards rearmament and preparing Germany for future conflict.

So while unemployment was falling, we have to ask, "Was this economic recovery really about helping people or was it about turning the entire country into a war machine?" Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What other aim did the Nazi government's employment schemes help to achieve? Pause the video, have a think and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew the correct answer was the Nazi government's employment schemes also had the aim of preparing Germany for a future war.

Okay, great, let's move on to task B.

What I want you to do here is complete the following sentences with further information.

And I'm gonna provide you with because, but and so sentences.

So the because sentences, the Nazi government appeared to successfully reduce unemployment in Germany because.

And you need to complete the sentence with further information.

So this one's asking for the most simple and obvious reason.

And so the hint for this is I want you to explain why rearmament reduced unemployment.

However, the next sentence, which is the but sentence, we want to try and complicate this a bit further.

Try and get us to think beyond the most obvious reasons.

So the Nazi government appeared to successfully reduce unemployment in Germany but.

And again, I want you to complete that sentence.

And the hint here is I want you to show a different viewpoint.

Was everyone counted? And then finally, the so sentence.

The Nazi government appeared to successfully reduce unemployment in Germany so.

And here the hint is I want you to explain what conclusions some historians have made.

Pause the video, complete the sentences, and then come right back.

Okay, great, welcome back and well done for having a go at that task.

So there's many ways you could have completed your sentences, but compare your answers with the ones I have here.

So for the first sentence, the because sentence, the Nazi government appeared to successfully reduce unemployment in Germany because the Nazis introduced conscription in 1935, and rearmed the military.

As a result, many young men were forced into the army and more workers were needed in factories to produce weapons, thus helping to reduce unemployment.

And for your but sentence, the Nazi government appeared to successfully reduce unemployment in Germany but the Nazis used statistical tricks like excluding women and Jewish people from unemployment figures.

They also counted forced or poorly paid work as full employment, which made the situation look better than it really was.

And finally, for your so sentence, the Nazi government appeared to successfully reduce unemployment in Germany so it gained some public support.

Some historians, however, argue that this economic recovery was exaggerated through propaganda, statistical manipulation, and invisible unemployment.

Okay, great, let's move on to the second and final part of task B.

What I want you to do here is explain why the Nazis were able to reduce unemployment in Germany between 1933 and 1939.

And to help you to structure your answer, I want you to write two paragraphs chosen from the following points, public works schemes, rearmament, invisible unemployment.

So remember, you only need to pick two of those to write about.

Pause the video, have go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay, great, welcome back, and well done for having a go at that task.

So there's many ways that you could have answered that question, but compare your answers with the ones I have here.

So if you chose to write about public work schemes, you may have answered the following.

One reason the Nazis were able to reduce unemployment was through public work schemes.

The government launched major infrastructure projects that provided thousands of jobs, including the building of roads, schools, and hospitals.

As part of Hitler's four-year plan, over five billion Reichsmarks were committed to these schemes, which included large-scale developments, such as railways, bridges, and housing.

The most iconic of these was the construction of the autobahns.

A key part of carrying out these projects was the Reich Labour Service, RAD, which became compulsory for young men.

Although the work was physically demanding and poorly paid, it provided jobs for thousands and helped reduce the number of people officially recorded as unemployed.

And if you chose to write about rearmament, your answer may have included the following.

Another major reason was rearmament.

From 1935 onwards, Hitler openly ignored the Treaty of Versailles and began rebuilding Germany's armed forces.

Conscription was reintroduced and large numbers of young men were taken out of unemployment and forced into the military.

At the same time, factories were converted to produce weapons like tanks and rifles requiring extra workers.

By 1939, around 25% of the workforce was involved in the arms industry.

This massive investment in the military not only created jobs, but also gave workers a sense of national purpose and helped the Nazis prepare for war.

And finally, if you wrote about invisible unemployment, you could have written: "Furthermore, unemployment figures were reduced through manipulation, which historians refer to as invisible unemployment.

The Nazis excluded groups like women and Jewish people from official statistics, even though many had been pushed out of jobs.

They also counted people in low paid or forced schemes like RAD as fully employed, even when their work was temporary or involuntary.

People who refused to take part could lose welfare benefits or face punishment, which discouraged people from registering as unemployed.

As a result, the official figures appeared much better than the true situation, allowing the Nazis to present an exaggerated image of economic success." Okay, great, let's summarise today's lesson, "Employment in Nazi Germany." The Nazis focused on reducing unemployment to gain public support after the Great Depression left over six million germans jobless.

Hitler aimed to achieve autarky by creating jobs that supported economic self-sufficiency and military expansion.

The Reich Labour Service, RAD, made compulsory for young men, provided jobs through public work schemes like building autobahns, though conditions were harsh and pay was low.

Rearmament and the reintroduction of conscription in 1935 removed many from unemployment.

Official figures were distorted through invisible unemployment as women and Jewish people were excluded from statistics and forced or low paid workers were counted as fully employed.

So well done, everyone.

So what does all this tell us about Hitler's bigger vision? The policies we've looked at today, public works, rearmament and employment weren't just short-term fixes for a broken economy; they were stepping stones towards something much larger: the creation of a powerful, self-sufficient empire.

Hitler didn't just want to restore Germany, he wanted to reshape it into a militarised state ready to dominate its neighbours and survive without relying on the outside world.

This is what autarky really meant to him, not just economic independence, but a nation built for conquest.

See you next time.