Hi 
I have a question about Germany (national study).
I'm having a bit of trouble with this question from last year's HSC:
How effective was the Nazi party up to 1939 in dealing with the political, economic and social issues arising from the Weimar Republic?
I know for political issues I could discuss the fact that by establishing a one-party state, the issues regarding proportional representation as well as Article 48 were removed, political violence was lessened and there was overall an increase in political stability. However, I'm not sure how to sustain a discussion on social or economic issues.
Am I missing content or was this just the more difficult question from last year's paper? I feel like Nazi economic policy was never really a focus, nor was their response to social issues.
Edit: would it be possible to argue that the Nazi Party made social issues worse via their response to religion, the youth, and etc?
Hello
Come to think of it that's a particularly difficult question as you have to define the issues, address the Nazi policy response and then evaluate its effectiveness! But here's the thing - economic policy was a minor focus of the Nazi party, but it isn't a focus of our syllabus, which makes addressing the question a little more difficult. I've gone to find a book with some actual information so what I'm saying is 100% legit
So apparently Hitler told his cabinet to 'avoid all detailed statements concerning an economic programme of the government', however he also realised that his position depended on bring Germany out of a recession (because he achieved representation by a negative consensus). Firstly the Nazi party wished to ensure that reliance on overseas economies (which brought about the Depression) did not happen again and so they pursued a policy of autarky (self-sufficiency). And the Nazis were also exposed to (uh oh economics) Keynesian economic theory which basically suggested that by spending lots of money and creating jobs, the economy would improve, and so they pursued this policy also. Despite these ideologies, 'no single unified economic system prevailed throughout the entire period of the Nazi regime'.
The Nazis also brought in Hjalmat Schacht (who was an absolute genius) and he developed a wide range of strategies which, to cut things short, basically attempted to create jobs and growth (lmao!!). As a result of his policies, by 1936 unemployment had reached 1.5m (a new low), GDP had increased by 40% and industrial output had increased by 60% - but these masked some structural issues of the economy. In order to address these problems, Goering introduced a Four Year Plan in 1936 which ostensibly highlighted objectives to continue growth, and ready the German economy for war within four years - however their policy did not eventuate in their desired aims and by the outbreak of war, they had not achieved self-sufficiency and were still in huge amounts of public debt.
So I'd address this sector by saying they addressed them ostensibly, but did not actually solve their problems completely. As for the social aspect, you could say whatever you would like
as long as you back it up with historical evidence. Personally I would say the Nazi party achieved their aims and created a stable society of acquiescence by their use of propaganda, terror and repression, because I don't believe that the Nazis were truly fixated on engaging German society with a cultural revolution, but were instead focused on creating internal stability so that their twin aims of 'race and war' could be pursued on a foreign stage.
The only problem I have with the argument that the Nazis made society worse etc. was that they created a stable society, so if you argue that you would have to talk about the ability of the church to pursue its own agendas on 'church matters', small business rejection of Nazi education reforms as graduates were not skilled enough for the workplace, the number of groups that actively abstained from youth etc.
Good luck
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