How successfully did the Nazi government use economic policies to win the support of the German people? Explain your answer. [40]

This question asks you to evaluate how successfully the Nazi government used economic policies to win support. You must consider both the achievements and the limitations of Nazi economic policy, using specific evidence.

Arguments that economic policies were highly successful in winning support:

• When Hitler came to power in January 1933, Germany had over 6 million unemployed. Through public works programmes (autobahn construction, public buildings) and rearmament, unemployment fell to under 1 million by 1937. This dramatic reduction was the regime's greatest source of popular support.
• The German Labour Front (DAF) replaced trade unions and introduced benefits through subsidiary organisations. The Strength Through Joy (Kraft durch Freude) programme offered subsidised holidays, theatre trips, concerts, and sporting events. The promise of the Volkswagen ("people's car") excited many workers, though few were actually delivered before the war.
• The Beauty of Labour (Schonheit der Arbeit) organisation improved factory conditions, introducing better lighting, canteens, and sports facilities.
• These policies created a genuine sense of economic recovery and national renewal after the despair of the Great Depression, winning widespread gratitude and support for the regime.

Arguments that the success was limited or came at significant cost:

• Workers lost the right to strike and had no genuine trade union representation. The DAF served the regime's interests, not workers' interests.
• Wages remained below 1929 levels until 1938, and working hours increased. Workers had little choice about their employment under the regime's direction of labour.
• Women were pressured out of the workforce to reduce official unemployment figures artificially. The regime's ideology emphasised women's role in the home (Kinder, Kuche, Kirche).
• Economic recovery was heavily dependent on rearmament spending, which was unsustainable without eventual war. By 1939, military spending consumed a huge proportion of government expenditure.
• Jewish business owners were systematically excluded from the economy through measures such as the Nuremberg Laws (1935) and Kristallnacht (November 1938). Their exclusion benefited some "Aryan" competitors but represented a moral catastrophe.
• The regime manipulated statistics to present a more favourable picture than reality warranted, excluding Jews, women, and opponents from unemployment figures.

Reaching a conclusion:

Nazi economic policies were successful in reducing visible unemployment and creating an impression of recovery that won genuine popular support from many Germans. However, this success was built on rearmament (unsustainable without war), suppression of workers' rights, racial exclusion, and statistical manipulation. The policies won support but at a moral and economic cost that the regime could not sustain indefinitely.

Mark scheme guidance: Level 5 answers (33-40 marks) will not just list economic achievements and limitations but will evaluate how far the policies genuinely won support versus how far that support rested on incomplete information or coercion. Consider which groups benefited and which did not. The strongest answers question the quality and sustainability of the "success," not just its existence.