- Wehrwirtschaft (defense economy)
- Germany’s peacetime economy was geared to military production in the event of total war
- Schacht’s New Plan 1934-1936
- Assistance for German farmers and small businesses to stimulate economic growth
- Public work projects, land reclamation
- Autobahns, creation of a national highway system ⇒ by 1939, GM had 7,000 miles of autobahns
- Developing the vehicle industry, new public buildings and housing
- Bilateral trade treaties with Balkan states
- Mefo bills (special money bills designed by the government for government spending)
- Four Year Plan 1936-1940
- To prepare the German economy for war by 1940 ⇒ spent 35bn marks in 1933 ⇒ government control over the labor sector
- To make Germany’s military fully operational by 1940 ⇒ had 900,000 people in 1939 in the army
- Unemployment decreased from 3.8m in 1933 to 0.5m in 1938
- Through the National Labour Service
- Creation of substitute materials, like artificial rubber, and using oil to replace coal (import substitution)
- To increase production of raw materials + arms
- Production in strategic resources fell way short of goals
- Levels of production never reached Hitler’s expectations
- Germany was still reliant on foreign imports for its war machine
- Huge BOP problem
- However… they removed women/jews from the unemployment statistics
IB Wisdom 