German History

Foreign Labor in Nazi Germany (2015)
(p.13) It is readily apparent that Germany had a far more comprehensive system of labor control than any other country in Europe, with the possible exception of the Soviet Union. This thorough system was one of the major reasons that Germany could effectively absorb millions of foreign workers during the war with so few disruptive effects.
Foreign Labor in Nazi Germany (2015)
(p.4) The Nazi party's philosophy and policies regarding laborwere fundamentally shaped by the circumstances of itsmaturation, especially the German inflation and depression.Therefore, it is necessary to examine the legislative actionsof the Nazi party after it assumed power in 1933 to show thetype and degree of controls that the Nazis established overthe German workers prior to the war and subsequently extendedto the foreign workers, and to illuminate some of thelater inconsistencies in the foreign labor program.
Foreign Labor in Nazi Germany (2015)
(p.5) In the labor field, the initial actions of the new Nazi governmentin 1933 reflected the primacy of political goals overall others. In the spring of that year the Nazi governmenteliminated the political power of German labor. The tradeunions, backbone of the Social Democratic party, were immediatelyabolished. The newspapers, funds, and propertyof the unions were incorporated into the monolithic NazicontrolledDeutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF). The political partiesrepresenting labor were ruthlessly crushed. Germanlabor, stripped of political and economic bargaining power,lay ready for molding by the Nazi party
Foreign Labor in Nazi Germany (2015)
(p.8) Of all the early Nazi labor actions, none had as seriousaftereffects as the campaign to remove women from all gainfulemployment. Soon after the Nazis assumed power, theylaunched an intensive propaganda campaign to releasewomen from industry. The virtues of motherhood were extolled.Women were constantly being told that their properrole was in the home. Monetary incentives like the marriageloans were enacted. Generous allowances were later granted to soldiers' wives; as a result, many women refused to work.Klein noted that these measures were only too successful ininculcating the idea that women should remain in the home,"for their effects persisted into the period when labor...
Foreign Labor in Nazi Germany (2015)