Guns, Butter and Forced Labour. The Economic Foundations of Nazi Dictatorship

In this course Nazi economic policy will be analysed in a historical perspective with a special emphasis on recent debates in the literature. Questions to be addressed are, for instance: Was the significant reduction of German unemployment during the first years of the Nazi rule, which heavily legitimized the Nazi regime in the eyes of the Germans, predominately caused by measures implemented by the new government or was this reduction merely a coincidence with the worldwide economic recovery? How did the Nazi regime transform the German economy from a peace to a war economy - by force, by incentives or by regulations? And how did the Nazis exploit occupied Europe and which impact had the foreign contribution to the German war effort?

A candidate who passes this course is expected to have the following learning outcome according to the course curriculum, defined as knowledge and skills:

Knowledge

The candidate

• will acquire an advanced knowledge about Nazi economic policy both in Germany and occupied Europe
• will acquire a thorough understanding of how the Nazis managed to transform the German economy and to exploit occupied countries
• will acquire detailed insight into the historiography of this period
• will acquire the ability to apply theories, perspectives as well as tools common in economic history (such as interpreting historical statistics)

Skills

The candidate

• should be able to critically interrogate the concepts, theoretical assumptions and established perspectives of the field
• should be able to write an extended independent, well-structured analytical essay/paper, using the relevant empirical knowledge and theoretical perspectives of the field

Lectures. The obligatory activity from a previous semester can be approved by the department.