How successful were the Nazi economic policies during the year 1933 – 1945? On the surface, Hitler's economic policies were enormously successful. He managed to completely abolish unemployment, something that no Western democratic power had ever managed to achieve in the 1930s. Yet beyond this economic achievement, Hitler was pursuing economic policies that could only lead to the loss of power or the loss of the war. The truth was that Hitler didn't know much about economics and his ultimate goal was to create full employment without the need for inflation. Make Germany self-sufficient and create a defense economy. However, by pursuing these policies, he also created problems that plunged Germany into war sooner than expected. One of the reasons why the Nazis were so successful with their economic policies was mainly due to Dr. Hjalmar Schacht. Hjalmar Schacht was appointed first president of the Reichsbank and then Minister of Economics in August 1934. In the same year Schacht conceived a program that would make the most of German foreign exchange. Schacht designed a program called the New Plan and was introduced in September 1934. This plan made it illegal for Germans to pay foreigners with their money without government permission. This allowed Schacht to decide what could be purchased from other countries. Germany also began to enter into bilateral agreements with all countries that agreed with them. Schacht's plans were successful because they allowed the government to control all imports. This meant they could focus on things they thought were more important, such as importing food and raw materials. This way they would not have to consume the industries they needed for rearmament. ...... half of the document ......gest The economic recovery in Germany occurred in the period between 1933 and 1936. It was not just the result of statistical deception. The success lies in the fact that Germany was able to spend large sums of money on rearmament, especially after 1936. This was because Germany kept taxes very high. Rearmament was initially supposed to be completed between 1940 and 1942, but Germany entered the war earlier than expected in 1939. Eventually the standard of living of the average German rose and the number of jobs increased. The failure was due to the fact that German exports were very low and the export industries concentrated most of their attention on rearmament. Some historians also believe that the enormous amount of money spent on rearmament caused major material and labor shortages. This led to Germany having no choice but to enter the war to finance further progress.