Peasants in Nazi Germany 1933-1945

Richard Darre
1. 28th May 1933: Appointed Reich Peasant minister
2. 29th June 1933: Appointed minister of agriculture and food
3. September 1933: Responsible for introducing the Reich Entitlement law and the Reich Food Estate
4. 1942: Made to resign from all of his posts
  1. Fell out with the Nazis about war production
5. Had two elements of thinking
  1. Restore the role and values of the countryside so to reverse urbanisation and promote the 'Blood and Soil' concept
  2. Support the expansionist theory of Lebensraum and create a German racial aristocracy on selective breeding
Nazi ideology
1. German peasant were regarded as special because they were seen as racially pure group
  1. Believed to retained their traditional attachment to the German soil
2. Portrayed as being being free of moral decline
  1. Nazis believed that moral decline had taken root in the cities
    1. Mainly during the Weimar years
Polices, changes and incentives
1. The Nazis had three main objectives for the peasant communities
  1. Reverse the drift of population from the countryside to the cities
  2. Relieve farmers of the burden of debt
  3. Establish a harmonious volksgemeinschaft in the countryside
2. 1933: The Reich Food Estate
  1. Supervised every aspect of the agricultural production and distribution
    1. Especially food prices and working wages
  2. Darre's way of coordinating the peasants
  3. Based on the leadership principle
    1. Darre was the leader
      1. Below Darre there was a hierarchical structure of state, district and local peasant leaders
  4. It was very bureaucratic
    1. 20,000 full time officials
    2. 113,000 unpaid officials
  5. Its aim was to link together producers, wholesalers and retailers to make a single chain and this would in turn cut out the proffitiering middle man
    1. Would ensure a fair deal for farmers
    2. All paricipents would benefit equally and they would therefore feel they are part of a wider 'people's community'
  6. '[The Reich Food Estate is seen as] the vehicle through which peasant farmers would strengthen their economic interests and claim their rightful place in the new Garmany' Richard Evans
3. 1933: Reich Entitled Farm Law
  1. Gave security of tenure to the occupants of medium farms
    1. Between 7.5 and 125 hectares
  2. Forbade the division of farms
4. Many farm debts and mortgages were written off
  1. Small farmers were given low interest rates and many tax allowances
5. Government maintained high tariffs on foreign goods
How successful were the Nazis? How much did life change for the German peasants?
1. The Nazis spent around 650,000,000 RM to clear farmers debts in the year 13933-36
  1. Was at first for the medium and larger farms
    1. Only benefited small farms after 1935
2. Farmers incomes increased by 41% during 1933-38
  1. More than industrial workers
    1. Industry profits increased more than farmers incomes
3. Price controls meant that farmers profits were smaller
  1. Meant that farmers couldn't afford to pay their labourers high wages or even buy labour saving machinery
4. The strict regulation of the Reich Food Estate became particularly resented by the farmers
5. Farm labourers wages were lower than what industrial workrs were and they also suffered poor social conditions such as housing
  1. This meant that many farm labourers drifted to the cities during the Nazi regime
    1. In 1939, there were serve labour shortages in German agriculture
    2. 3% of the German population drifted into the towns
6. After 1936, the regime had the power to merge smaller farms into bigger ones to make them more efficient
  1. Angered many farmers and conflicted with the 'Blood and Soil' ideology
    1. Was deemed economically justified as achieved higher agricultural production
7. The Reich Entailed Farm Law caused resentment and family discontent
  1. By trying to solve the problem of passing on farms to just one child meant that many farmers couldn't provide for their other children

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Peasants in Nazi Germany 1933-1945

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	Created by BethanyKJN about 10 years ago