Reinhardt program

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The Reinhardt program was in the Nazi era an economic policy social program for the elimination of unemployment . It was named after Fritz Reinhardt , the then State Secretary in the Reich Ministry of Finance , who was in charge of legislating the measures to be implemented. As a result of the program, Germany was one of the first countries to regain full employment after the global economic crisis in 1936 .

Historical background

Due to the global economic crisis, the number of unemployed in Germany had risen to 6,120,000 by 1932. Various programs were developed by the Reich Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Reich Government as countermeasures. Economists and theorists of the Marxist left such as Rudolf Hilferding , but also conservative financial experts such as Arthur Zarden and, above all, Heinrich Brüning , were rather skeptical of funding for job creation and leaned towards financial orthodoxy. Under the impression of the previous hyperinflation , they tried to strengthen the currency through an austerity policy, which, in addition to rising unemployment, was associated with serious social hardship, tax increases and deep cuts in the social security system. The representatives of the austerity policy assumed the need to keep the state budget balanced because the capital market was not available to finance a deficit . Ultimately, these measures turned out to exacerbate the crisis.

On the other hand , financial experts inclined to Keynesianism , economists and politicians such as Franz Hochstetter , Fritz Reinhardt, Carl Schmitt or Franz von Papen recommended creating economic policy incentives that were aimed at controlling the demand for goods and services and, if necessary, the economy to revive increased government spending and expansionary monetary policy . In fact, the Papen cabinet issued an emergency ordinance on July 14, 1932 , which for the first time initiated active steps in this economic policy . This started the implementation of the first job creation programs, such as the expansion of roads, the straightening of waterways, grants for melioration work and subsidized shipbuilding and dismantling work. At the same time, private companies should be given tax relief by means of so-called tax vouchers .

The extension of the measures over a longer period of time prevented an early positive result; the Hitler government reaped the fruits of the programs . While at the same time Franklin D. Roosevelt was announcing his expansive job creation program, the New Deal , in the USA, Hitler achieved the final breakthrough in Germany in the July 1932 elections with his promise to reduce unemployment. The fact is that only the NSDAP appeared with a program of massive, reflationary credit expansion and job creation and was thus able to more than double its share of the vote to 37.3%.

After the seizure of power by the National Socialists then exchanged Reich Minister of Finance Schwerin von Krosigk after personal intervention of Hitler the Jewish state secretary in the Finance Ministry Arthur Zarden with the Nazi party financial experts Fritz Reinhardt. The new State Secretary immediately began implementing the job creation program named after him.

Legal basis

The Reinhardt program contained legislation on job creation, tax relief and various provisions on the use of labor.

June 1, 1933 can be regarded as the start. On this day, the law to reduce unemployment came into force, in which the Reich Minister of Finance was authorized to spend one billion Reichsmarks to (literally) "promote national work". On September 21, 1933, the Second Law to Reduce Unemployment followed with another 500 million Reichsmarks, and on October 16, 1934, the Tax Adjustment Act, along with ten other tax laws.

The Reinhardt program had a financial volume of 1.5 billion Reichsmarks, which today would correspond to around 10 billion euros.

Content

These reforms caused a sensation in the population because, in addition to the creation of jobs, they were associated with considerable tax relief. Newlyweds received an interest-free marriage loan for the procurement of household items in the amount of up to 1,000 marks. Income , sales , motor vehicle and property taxes were reduced to a considerable extent ; The corporation , however, increased from 20% to 40%. There were tax exemptions for private home builders and owners of small apartments. Agriculture was given very large discounts.

Concrete state contracts were awarded for repair and supplementary work on public buildings, for social housing , for bridge construction, for river regulation , the construction of the Reichsautobahn , etc.

In order to increase the effect, regulations on the use of labor were enacted. For example, increased work orders could not lead to an increase in working hours. New hires were to be made for such overtime , at least 80% of whom had to be unemployed. Machines that were replaced by new investments were to be scrapped so that they could not be used elsewhere.

Review

With the Reinhardt program, Germany had overcome the global economic crisis in 1936, as one of the first countries to achieve full employment again and to exceed the pre-war level of production of 1914.

It is now considered undisputed that these tax reforms and employment programs resulted in an enormous economic upswing . The tax policy pursued between 1933 and 1935 led to tax relief for citizens totaling 1.75 billion marks. The associated strengthening of purchasing power increased tax revenues by an additional 5.4 billion Reichsmarks in the same period.

Whether or to what extent the Reinhardt program was inspired by war preparations is a matter of dispute among historians. De jure and de facto, the planning of the tax and job creation laws in the Reich Ministry of Finance tied directly to the preparatory work of the Weimar Republic . Almost all of the newly introduced elements of the Nazi tax policy were nothing more than a continuation of the Weimar tax policy and are therefore to be seen as an expansion and not as a "revolutionary" transformation of the National Socialists.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhard Schulz: From Brüning to Hitler. The change in the political system in Germany 1930–1933. Walter de Gruyter 1992, p. 817 ff
  2. ↑ Rudolf Morsey : Origin, authenticity and criticism of Brüning's memoirs 1918–1934. Westdeutscher Verlag 1975; P. 22 ff
  3. ^ Mark Skousen: The big three in economics: Adam Smith, Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes. Armonk 2007; 121
  4. ↑ André Bastisch: The works program under Hitler: The reduction of mass unemployment in the Third Reich from 1933 to 1936. Diplomica Verlag 2014; P. 21 ff
  5. ↑ ibid.
  6. ↑ Hans-Georg Glasemann: The tax vouchers of the Reich Ministry of Finance 1932 to 1945: Financial history and catalog. Books on Demand 2009; P. 5
  7. ↑ http://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=dra&date=19330004&seite=00000323
  8. ↑ http://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=dra&date=19330004&seite=00000651
  9. ↑ Purchasing power conversion see under Reichsmark ; there according to the Hamburg State Archives and the Federal Statistical Office: 1 Reichsmark (1924–1936) = 6.65 euros (2015)
  10. ^ Christiane Kuller: Bureaucracy and Crime, Anti-Semitic Financial Policy and Administrative Practice in National Socialist Germany. Walter de Gruyter 2013; P. 139 ff
  11. ↑ André Bastisch: The works program under Hitler: The reduction of mass unemployment in the Third Reich from 1933 to 1936. Diplomica Verlag 2014; P. 45 ff
  12. ↑ cf. Section 1 Law on the Reduction of Unemployment of June 1, 1933
  13. ^ Josef Moser: Upper Austria's economy 1938 to 1945. Böhlau Verlag 1995; P. 54
  14. ^ Werner Plumpe: Economic crises: history and present. CH Beck 2011; P. 82
  15. ↑ Reiner Sahm: 5,000 years of taxes - a long path of suffering for mankind. Springer-Verlag 2012; P. 296
  16. ^ Christiane Kuller: Bureaucracy and Crime, Anti-Semitic Financial Policy and Administrative Practice in National Socialist Germany. Walter de Gruyter 2013; P. 140