Soldiers of Labor: Labor Service in Nazi Germany and New Deal America, 1933–1945

by Kiran Klaus Patel

• ISBN13: 9780521168663
• ISBN10: 052116866X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-09-09
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Originally published in 2005, Soldiers of Labor is a systematic comparison between the labor policies of the Nazi dictatorship and New Deal America. The main subject of the book is the Nazi Labor Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst), a public work scheme that provided work and education for young men. Here, the organizational setup, the educational dimension, and its practical work are extensively examined. Originally, the institution was an instrument in the fight against unemployment at the end of the Weimar Republic. After 1933, it became a Nazi propaganda tool that ultimately became involved in the Nazi's war of extermination. This study examines the similarities and differences, the mutual perceptions, and transfers between the Nazi Labor Service and its New Deal equivalent, the Civilian Conservation Corps. Patel uncovers stunning similarities between the two organizations, as well as President Roosevelt's irritating personal interest in the Nazi equivalent of his pet agency, the CCC.

Table of Contents

List of charts and illustrations

Preface

Introduction

The panacea for the Great Depression? Labor service ideas and their implementation prior to 1933

Service to the community: the organization of the labor services

'Citizens', 'Volksgenossen' and soldiers: education in the labor services

In 'Grandeurs of Nature': the work of the services

Concluding reflections

Abbreviations

Sources and bibliography

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.