Social Policy in National Socialism

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The Social Policy Nazism refers to the measures that have been carried out by their means for the purposes of National Socialist ideology against defined segments of the population. It was based on the ideology of the national community and found great acceptance among the groups that benefited from it.

A much-cited example of the measures was a tax relief for the middle class and low-income earners, with a greater burden on companies or homeowners.

Prehistory to the seizure of power

During the years of inflation in the 1920s, the living situation of large parts of the German population was characterized by deficiencies in the food sector and general impoverishment of large parts of the population.

As a result, the NSDAP took up this situation more than many other political groups and currents, and in its 25-point program of 1920 dealt with economic and social policy in more than half of the points. This culminated in the motto: "Common good comes before self-interest".

Other corporationist or egalitarian ideas were also discussed: the existing classes were to be abolished and all Germans to be united in a unified national community. Large companies should also be expropriated. However, these program components of the NSDAP were ultimately not implemented because Hitler wanted to get the Reichswehr and the employers on his side. Among other things, this led to the assassination of the SA leadership, which the National Socialists subsequently referred to as the Röhm Putsch , which had insisted on the implementation of the corporate program.

Social policy in peacetime

unemployment

In the first years of National Socialist rule, the number of unemployed fell enormously. While more than 6 million unemployed were officially registered in February 1933, Hitler's government was able to announce the reduction to 2.5 million in June 1934. In January 1935 it was 2.9 million, at the end of August 1935 only 1.1 million. The main reason for this was the employment program (agriculture and road construction) that had already been initiated by the Brüning government and which was expanded to include residential construction. In particular, the construction of the motorway was staged for propaganda purposes.

The number of unemployed also fell because some sectors (agricultural workers, fishermen, forest workers, servants) were removed from unemployment insurance ; an additional effect was achieved by frowning on women’s work and starting a campaign against double earners. In particular, women were systematically displaced from the service industry and higher-skilled occupations, creating many vacancies.

The average weekly wage, however, was still a quarter below the 1929 value, but at the same time the cost of living had fallen significantly.

In 1935, compulsory military service was introduced and in the same year, until the outbreak of war, the compulsory national labor service was also available exclusively for young men , which further reduced unemployment. After the compulsory year 1938 was introduced for young women and due to the massive growth in the arms industry, full employment was in fact achieved by 1939 .

Tax policy

With the Tax Adjustment Act of 1934 , the Reich income tax introduced in 1920 was further developed and the tax system with tax classes I to IV that is still in force today was created. Contrary to widespread misinformation, however, the spouse splitting was not introduced, but the earnings of the husband and wife were added and taxed like that of an individual. This meant that the spouse's additional earnings were fully subject to progression, which meant a significantly higher tax burden for two-earner marriages compared to the previous legal status (in which each spouse was taxed separately like a single person). This fits seamlessly into the general political line of rejection of women in employment.

In order to demonstrate to the population that Hitler could lower taxes even during the war instead of introducing war taxes, night, Sunday and holiday surcharges were exempted from tax in 1940.

Companies or homeowners, on the other hand, were heavily burdened: the corporate income tax was increased from 20% to 40%, homeowners had to pay a special levy of eight billion Reichsmarks.

ideology

All welfare state measures were ultimately subordinate to one goal: the National Socialist racial ideology . So that the “ national body ” remains healthy and the “Aryan race” pure, the services should not benefit physically and mentally impaired people and “racially inferior” people ( see also: National Socialist Racial Hygiene ).

The German Hygiene Museum Dresden (DHM) was fully committed to the National Socialist ideology. It wanted to "awaken understanding of the population policy program of the NSDAP and thus of the National Socialist state ... in order to promote the basis for uniform health management and public health of the German people." With regard to the expansion of tasks in the field of A special department was set up in genetic and racial studies . The DHM showed the traveling exhibitions “People and Family”, “Eternal People” and “People and Race” in order to “ awaken the sense of responsibility of the individual national comrades towards their people and their race, to deepen it and to direct them to the national obligations to be fulfilled by all . “In the war years, the education about air protection and war gas diseases was added and extended to the occupied territories.

In the case of the persecution of the Jews ( see also: Aryanization ) and the Holocaust as the most serious racial ideological measures, however, the reasons for which they were ultimately carried out are disputed. In particular, it is argued in recent publications that it was a state-sponsored raid that led to considerable income for the Third Reich . The so-called “ Jewish property tax ” of one billion Reichsmarks, which was decreed after the Reichspogromnacht of 1938, increased state revenues by more than six percent. Ultimately, this income enabled the German population to enjoy a comparatively comfortable standard of living even in times of war. In this way, the surviving population benefited from the Holocaust.

Employee policy

The relationship with employees fluctuated between the carrot and the stick: on the one hand, the unions were banned and replaced by the German Labor Front , which was a unified association of workers and employers and was therefore not a trade union substitute. In addition, a nationwide wage freeze effectively lowered real wages and increased working hours during the transition to the war economy. With these measures, the Nazi state extensively dominated the workforce and wages and effectively prevented any possible strike.

The harmonious national community only existed to a limited extent in reality; various strikes occurred, but these were kept as secret as possible. The reaction of the National Socialists was difficult to calculate, sometimes they reacted with incalculable terror, but now and then they also removed operators. On the other hand, there were also social improvements and gifts: May 1st was introduced as a public holiday for workers and housework day for women. In addition, the Kraft durch Freude organization was founded in order to bring the German population into line in the leisure sector in the spirit of National Socialism through holiday trips and leisure events .

On December 16, 1936, by the third occupational disease regulation , the accident insurance to commercial occupational diseases expanded in Germany and the commercial medical service expanded. The Reich Labor Ministry thus continued the social policy of the Weimar Republic with regard to occupational diseases. Asbestosis and lung cancer due to chromate production were newly recognized . In addition, the regulation secured compensation for severe silicosis and expanded the number of substances that are hazardous to health. The State Commercial Doctor has existed since then . Compared to 1931, however, the proportion of recognized cases of occupational diseases in the number of reported cases fell. When assessing workers, the company doctor should postpone early disability to at least 55 years of age, demanded Hans Reiter , President of the Reich Health Office. From 1938 onwards, the statutory health insurance physician's right to record incapacity for work was restricted. (A worker suffering from gastric ulcer is not incapable of working unless the ulcer is bleeding or has a tendency to breakthrough. EKG examinations are to be kept to a minimum and the patient remains able to work until the findings are received.)

"If such a strict standard is applied, it can happen that there are also fallen soldiers at home." (Message to the employees of the medical examiner's office in Saarlandstrasse from February 19, 1943, quoted from Elfriede Paul : A consulting room of the Red Orchestra, Berlin 1981, Military Publishing House, p. 219)

In 1941, all pensioners were taken over into health insurance and have been automatically insured since then - according to observations by the SS security service , this measure triggered "visible satisfaction and great joy" among the elderly.

Social policy during the Second World War

In contrast to the First World War, there was no total mobilization and conversion to a war economy during the Second World War until the defeat of Stalingrad . In fact, for a long time, production in the civilian sectors continued, almost unaffected by the war. This was possible because the war economy was fixated on the principle of lightning wars and deep armor was dispensed with. In addition, the Third Reich benefited from the initial successes of the Wehrmacht , which enabled access to the food and labor from the occupied countries.

In Germany , on Sunday, August 28, 1939, four days before the start of the Second World War (and three days after the original order to attack Poland ), food stamps and vouchers for petrol were issued.

After Goebbels ' Sportpalast speech , in which he called for total war , the restrictions on supply increased.

In April 1945 the food rations were below the maintenance minimum , so that famine was expected.

For this reason, reference was made to tangible ... novel foods : rapeseed , rapeseed cakes and rapeseed meal , chestnuts , acorns (for acorn coffee ), fodder plants as bulk vegetables ( beetroot , serradella , clover , alfalfa ).

For the protein base, all tangible warm-blooded animals should be slaughtered and lower wild animals collected (fish of all kinds, frogs, snails).

(From the guidelines of Ernst-Günther Schenck, Inspector for Troop Food and Nutrition, to the heads of the NSDAP's "Gauämter für Volksgesundheit" (Gau offices for public health) of April 5, 1945 on the food issue, quoted in: Die Befreiung Berlins 1945, ed . by Klaus Scheel, Berlin 1975, p. 60 f.)

At the end of the war, industry collapsed due to the bombing of the infrastructure (railways) and industrial plants and the lack of raw materials supply, the supply of food became problematic, the black market flourished.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Norbert Götz. "National community social policy." Contributions to the history of the labor movement 44 (2002) 3: 79–93.
  2. ↑ Norbert Götz. Unequal siblings: the construction of the National Socialist Volksgemeinschaft and the Swedish Volksheim . Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2001. 349-417.
  3. ^ Annual report of the Reichs-Kredit-Gesellschaft Germany's economic situation at the turn of the year 1935/36 ( memento of March 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) in the February 1936 edition of the Weissen Blätter , p. 60.
  4. ↑ See Wolfgang Ayaß : "Asoziale" im Nationalozialismus , Stuttgart 1995.
  5. ↑ limited preview of Google books