Was there a Nazi social revolution?

Key questions Was German society fundamentally changed by the Third Reich? Did the Nazis create a Volksgemeinschaft? Did the Nazis create a racial state? Did the Nazis modernize Germany? How popular was the Nazi regime?

Hitlers revolutionary claims

Against the problems of modernity: For Blood and Soil: It is arguable that Hitlers revolution was contradictory from the start. Lebensraum required war, which required industrial strength.

Definitions
Social revolution: How can we be sure that changes are not simply further developments of existing trends? How far were changes the direct result of Nazi policies? How far were changes the unintended consequences of conflicting Nazi policies? Volksgemeinschaft: German Volk: work for greater good of society, not individuals, families, classes or regions, religion. Loyal and cooperative. Individual rights: subordinated Gemeinnutz geht vor Eigenutz: common good before the good of the individual. Classless society: German rather than class values to overcome threat of Bolshevism and Jews. The excluded: mentally impaired, disabled, Jews, misfits.

Historiography
Marxist historians reactionary revolution Nazism represents a reactionary social revolution. The Nazi regime turned the clock back for women and working class and reinforced traditional class hierarchy. It repressed the working class and strengthened the position of employers, back by a repressive police force. Dahrendorf social revolution 1965 Society and Democracy in Germany. Dahrendorf argued that although evil, the Nazi regime removed obstacles to modernisation in German society. It destroyed traditional elites and paved way for post war democratisation of Germany. It allowed Germany to break away from the Second Reich. Schoenbaum revolution in perception 1966 Hitlers Social Revolution: Class and Status in Nazi Germany. Schoenbaum argued that the Nazi regime merely exacerbated previous trends in social and economic structure e.g. industrialisation and urbanisation. Class conflict continued: Beneath the cover of Nazi ideology, social groups continued -1-

their conflicts like men wrestling under a blanket. However, although in reality there was no social revolution, Germans perceived Nazi rule as revolutionary because it turned traditional concepts of status upside down. New avenues of social advancement opened up through the Nazi party. Burleigh racial revolution 1991 The Racial state. Burleigh sees race rather than class the key concept in understanding Nazi Germany. Racism radically altered the character of Nazi Germany, cutting across class divisions. It had a lasting effect on all aspect of life because Germans internalised the Nazis racial/biological categories.

Summary of the key social and economic changes in the Third Reich
Decide which interpretation each box supports: Reactionary/revolutionary/only exacerbated existing trends. Dahrendorf: Nazi regime revolutionised Germany; removed old elites; prepared the way for post war democratisation of Germany Schoenbaum: Nazi regime merely exacerbated existing trends; however they was a revolution in perception of status Burleigh: racial revolution 1. WOMEN (Hite p. 296-303) Aims of Nazi policy Nazi attitudes to women were summed up by the phrase Kinde, Kche, Kirche. The Aryan family was the basic unit of Volksgemeinschaft, its purpose the reproduction of the master race. Women and the family Some Nazi policies supported womens role as mothers: marriage loans for women who gave up their jobs rest homes for women recuperating from childbirth restrictions on womens employment in civil service subsidies for milk, groceries, baby clothes and kindergartens mothers crosses: bronze for four children, silver for six and gold for eight. Other Nazi policies undermined the role of the family: Hitler Youth took children from the family. Lebensborn (life springs) programme. 11,000 children born in special homes to SS men. The statistics seem to prove that Nazi policy was working. The number of marriages increased by 200,000 between 1932 and 1934. Infant mortality dropped by 1% between 1933 and 1936. The number of births rose from 14.7 thousand in 1933 to 20.3 per thousand in 1939, but the size of families dropped. However, it is arguable that these changes were the result of greater economic confidence rather than Nazi policy. Women and the economy Between 1933 and 1936, the Nazis sought to exclude women from jobs in teaching, the civil service, politics and law. However, this policy was not sustainable once the big drive for rearmament began. -2-

Increasing numbers of women were employed in trade, industry and government. The percentage of women working rose from 34.4% in 1936 to 36.7% in 1939. Interpretations Reactionary? Social revolution? Racial revolution?

How popular was the Nazi regime among women? Mason the regime was one of the most repressive and reactionary of all modern political movement. [However],there is scarcely any evidence that the policies adopted on the family and on womens work were unpopular. 2. YOUNG PEOPLE (Hite p. 276-291) Aims of Nazi policy Nazi policy aimed to create young people who were obedient, physically fit and idolise the Fuhrer. They must be prepared to sacrifice themselves for the national good and strengthen the racial health and purity of the German nation. Youth organisations In 1933, all youth organisations, except Catholic ones, were taken over by Hitler youth The Nazis hoped their institutions would exert more influence than parents or the church. Boys: Pimpfen (6-10), Deutsche Jungvolk (10-14), Hitlerjugend (14-18). Girls: Jung Mdel (10-14), Bund Deutchser Mdel (14-18), Glaube und Schnheit (18-21). Membership of youth organisations became compulsory from 1936, but nevertheless many managed to avoid joining. As the youth organisations expanded, they became less successful because the members were less committed and the activates became less fun: hiking, singing, camping gave way to military drill. Education The Nazis imposed their ideas on the curriculum and the teaching staff, but there were no major structural changes. The chief purpose of the school is to train human beings to realise that the state is more important than the individual (official teachers manual) Politically unreliable or racially inferior teachers purged. Greater stress of physical exercise New textbooks introduced Nazi racial ideas into biology and history. New subject of racial science introduced. Denominational schools decreased; single sex schools increased. 1937 Adolf Hitler schools set up. Separate party schools that stressed leadership. Only educated 600 pupils a year. Universities lost 10% of their staff, leading to fears that education was being downgraded. Resistance Youth resistance from Swing Youth, Edelweiss Pirates and White Rose. Tiny minority. -3-

Interpretations (Women) Reactionary? Social revolution? Racial revolution?

How popular was the Nazi regime among youth? SPD report: The secret of National Socialism is the secret of its youth 1934 Wilt: 95% backed Hitler, opposition was vague. Peukert: growing crisis in Hitler youth...massive opposition movements in war years. Nazism lost its appeal when it became compulsory. 3. WORKING CLASS Many workers were badly treated by the Nazis. Communists and Social democrats were imprisoned and trade unions banned. However, many ordinary working people remembered the peace time years of the Third Reich as the best of their lives. There was return to full employment, with Hitler taking credit for a trend that had already started by late 1932. Average wages rose, but so did hours and taxes. With profits rising fast, the share of national income taken by wages actually decreased. But compared to the hunger and hardship of the Weimar Republic, many workers lives became much easier. Organisations such as Schonheit der Arbeit (Beauty of Labour) and Kraft Durch Freude (KDF Strength through Labour) promised more in propaganda than they delivered in practice. Only a few people went on cruises, but many benefited from days out. The DAF (German workers front) had 22 million members by 1939, and organised training courses and a workers car scheme that never came to fruition. Such organisations increased peoples sense of community. However, some improved facilities did not make up for the working classs loss of political power. (Text adapted from Collins Flagship History Makers) Interpretations (workers) Reactionary? Social revolution? Racial revolution?

How popular were the Nazis among the working class? Mason: Marxist historians: the workers were enemies of the regime. Kershaw A working class that was neutralized, constrained, resigned, demoralised, at best only partially integrated but neither rebellious or posing a serious threat to the regime.

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4. MITTELSTAND Urban Lower Middle Class Nazi party rhetoric supported the petit bourgeois over big business. In 1933, special taxes were introduced on larger stores and new departments stores were banned. However, price controls, shortages and tight credit meant that despite Nazi rhetoric, 300,000 small businesses went bankrupt. Peasantry The Nazis introduced early measures to help the peasants, for example price controls and the cancellation of some debts. The Reich Food Estate controlled agricultural prices, production, distribution and wages; all involved in agriculture had to join. The Four Year Plan aided agriculture by reducing fertiliser prices, subsidising mechanisation and giving grants for new cultivated land. However, Nazi policies were not an unmixed blessing for the peasants. Labour shortages and government restrictions meant that the percentage employed in agriculture actually fell. The Reich Entailed Farm Law forbade the selling or splitting up of small farms; this had the unintended result of holding back mechanisation, because peasants could not get loans secured against their farms. Interpretations (Mittelstand) Reactionary? Social revolution? Racial revolution?

How popular were the Nazis among the middle class? Kershaw: although the urban middle class initially supported the Nazis, later they felt let down by the regime. The peasants were uninterested in the concept of Volksgemeinschaft. They were only interested in their own material well-being: when times were good they favoured the regime, in economic crises they denounced it. Social union was to them an enigma 5. BIG BUSINESS Overall, the Third Reich was good for big business. Profits were 4 times higher in 1939 than in 1928. The autarky policy favoured firms engaged in the production of synthetic materials: the profits of chemical combine IG Farben doubled in 1936 to 140 million. Daimler Benz benefited from rearmament. However, industrialists were excluded from the decision-making process in the Third Reich. The economic role of the state grew and there was extensive state intervention in the way businesses were run. all firms were members of Reichsgruppe for industry. Interpretations (big business) Reactionary? Social revolution? Racial revolution?

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6. JEW AND GYPSIES The most fundamental inequality in the Nazi state was between races. Nazi eugenic theories aimed to produce a healthy stock by excluding those who were inferior or even pollutants of the healthy folk community. Racism cut across class divisions. Nazi racial categories and biological conceptions were internalised by many Germans. Key events: Boycott of Jewish businesses and Law for the Restoration of a Professional Civil service 1933 Nuremburg Laws, 1935 Jews excluded from professions, 1937 Kristallnacht, 1938 Aryanisation of Jewish property Interpretations (Jews and Gypsies). Reactionary? Social revolution? Racial revolution?

Jenkins the social order contained in Volksgemeinschaft was, in many respects, merely a propaganda gimmick. Kershaws final pronouncement: beneath the surface unity of the propaganda image, there was a remarkably disunited society. Under the propaganda varnish of the Volksgemeinschaft old antagonisms continued unabated, heightened even by Nazi social and economic policy, and new ones were added to them. The extent of disillusionment and discontent in almost all sections of the population, rooted in the socio-economic experience of daily life, is remarkable

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