Soldiers of Labor SoldiersofLaboristhefirstsystematiccomparisonofthelaborpoliciesofthe NazidictatorshipandNewDealAmerica.Themainsubjectofthebookisthe ReichLaborService(Reichsarbeitsdienst),apublicworksprojectthatprovided workandeducationforyoungmen.Here,theorganizationalsetup,theeduca- tional dimension, and its practical work are extensively examined. Originally, theinstitutionwasaninstrumentinthefightagainstunemploymentattheend of the Weimar Republic. After 1933, itbecame a Nazi propaganda tool that ultimatelybecameinvolvedintheNaziwarofextermination.Thisstudyexam- inesthesimilaritiesanddifferences,mutualperceptions,andtransfersbetween theReichLaborServiceanditsNewDealequivalent,theCivilianConservation Corps. Patel uncovers stunning similarities between the two organizations, as wellasPresidentRoosevelt’spersonalirritationwiththeNaziequivalentofhis petagency,theCCC. Kiran Klaus Patel is Assistant Professor of History at Humboldt University, Berlin.TheGermaneditionofthisbookwasawardedthePrixdelaFondation Auschwitz(Brussels)andtheTiburtiusRecognitionPrize(Berlin). publications of the german historical institute EditedbyChristofMauch withtheassistanceofDavidLazar TheGermanHistoricalInstituteisacenterforadvancedstudyandresearch whose purpose is to provide a permanent basis for scholarly cooperation among historians from the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States. The Institute conducts, promotes, and supports research on both American and German political, social, economic, and cultural history; on transatlanticmigration,especiallyinthenineteenthandtwentiethcenturies; and on the history of international relations, with special emphasis on the rolesplayedbytheUnitedStatesandGermany. Recentbooksintheseries ElizabethGlaserandHermannWellenreuther,editors,BridgingtheAtlantic: TheQuestionofAmericanExceptionalisminPerspective Ju¨rgen Heideking and James A. Henretta, editors, Republicanism and Lib- eralisminAmericaandtheGermanStates,1750–1850 Hubert Zimmermann, Money and Security: Troops, Monetary Policy, and West Germany’s Relations with the United States and Britain, 1950– 1971 Roger Chickering and Stig Fo¨rster, editors, The Shadows of Total War: Europe,EastAsia,andtheUnitedStates,1919–1939 RichardJ.BesselandDirkSchumann,editors,LifeafterDeath:Approaches toaCulturalandSocialHistoryofEuropeDuringthe1940sand1950s Marc Flandreau, Carl-Ludwig Holtfrerich, and Harold James, editors, International Financial History in the Twentieth Century: System and Anarchy Andreas W. Daum, Lloyd C. Gardner, and Wilfried Mausbach, editors, The Vietnam War and the World: International and Comparative Perspectives DetlefJunker,editor,TheUnitedStatesandGermanyintheEraoftheCold War:AHandbook,2volumes RogerChickering,StigFo¨rster,andBerndGreiner,editors,AWorldatTotal War:GlobalConflictandthePoliticsofDestruction,1937–1945 Soldiers of Labor Labor Service in Nazi Germany and New Deal America, 1933–1945 KIRAN KLAUS PATEL HumboldtUniversita¨t,Berlin Translatedby thomas dunlap german historical institute Washington,D.C. and cambridgeuniversitypress Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo CambridgeUniversityPress 40West20thStreet,NewYork,ny10011-4211,usa www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521834162 germanhistoricalinstitute 1607NewHampshireAve.,N.W.,Washington,dc20009 (cid:1)C KiranKlausPatel2005 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithout thewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublishedas“SoldatenderArbeit”:ArbeitsdiensteinDeutschland unddenusa1933–1945byVandenhoeck&Ruprechtin2003 Englisheditionfirstpublished2005 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Patel,KiranKlaus. [SoldatenderArbeit.English] Soldiersoflabor:laborserviceinNaziGermanyandNewDealAmerica, 1933–1945/KiranKlausPatel;translatedbyThomasDunlap. p. cm.–(PublicationsoftheGermanHistoricalInstitute) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. isbn0-521-83416-3(alk.paper) 1.Germany.Reichsarbeitsdienst. 2.Laborservice–Germany. 3.Laborservice– UnitedStates. 4.Nationalsocialism. I.Title. II.Series. hd4870.3.g3p38413 2005 331.12(cid:2)042(cid:2)094309043–dc22 2004054765 isbn-13 978-0-521-83416-2hardback isbn-10 0-521-83416-3hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityfor thepersistenceoraccuracyofurlsforexternalor third-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublication anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch Websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate. Contents ListofChartsandIllustrations pageix Preface xi Introduction 1 1 APanaceafortheGreatDepression?LaborServiceIdeasand TheirImplementationPriorto1933 22 1.1. PrecursorstotheLaborServices 22 1.2. TheSituationofYoungPeopleintheGreatDepression 32 1.3. ThePrecursorinGermany:TheFADfrom1931to 1933andtheInvolvementoftheNSDAP 41 2 ServicetotheCommunity:TheOrganizationoftheLabor Services 64 2.1. FalseStartintotheThirdReich:TheOrganizationof theGermanLaborServiceattheBeginningofthe NationalSocialistRegime 64 2.2. FromConsolidationtotheWar-timeDeploymentofthe RAD 94 2.3. BetweenIdeologyandEconomics:TheAdmissions CriteriaoftheGermanLaborService 121 2.4. TheOrganizationoftheCivilianConservationCorps 151 2.5. InterimConclusion 181 3 “Citizens,”Volksgenossen,andSoldiers:Educationinthe LaborServices 190 3.1. TheEducationConceptoftheGermanLaborService 193 3.2. “SchoolofManhood”betweenPrescriptionand Practice 216 3.3. “TheSchooloftheNation”:PoliticalIndoctrination andOrganizedRecreation 239 3.4. EducationintheCivilianConservationCorps 261 3.5. InterimConclusion 285 vii viii Contents 4 In“TheGrandeursofNature”:TheWorkoftheLabor Services 292 4.1. WorkPlanningandAreasofWorkintheGerman LaborService 293 4.2. GlorificationandPragmaticCompromise:TheConcept andPracticeofWorkintheGermanLaborService 318 4.3. TheLaborServiceatWork:NewChallengesinthe Large-ScaleDeploymentsBeginningin1937 340 4.4. WorkintheCivilianConservationCorps 365 4.5. InterimConclusion 387 ConcludingReflections 395 Abbreviations 411 SourcesandBibliography 415 Index 439 Charts and Illustrations CHARTS 1 BudgetfundsspentfortheGermanLaborServiceformen page108 2 Magnitudeofjob-creationmeasuresintheGermanReich 1933–1934 141 3 Nationalincome,stateexpenditures,andlaborservice budgets 188 4 DailyscheduleintheGermanLaborService 210 5 DailyscheduleintheCCC 268 ILLUSTRATIONS 1 HitlerreviewingRADworkersonparadeatthe1936NSDAP partyrally.RADdirectorHierlstandsintheforeground. 93 2 TheorganizationoftheRAD. 119 3 ThegrowthoftheGermanLaborServicethrough1935. 137 4 “TheCCCiscomposedalmostentirelyofyoungmen,ages 17to23.However,alimitednumberofoldermenare enrolledamongtheVeterans,Indians,andTerritorials.” 163 5 “Therearesome150CCCcampsforcoloredboys.This enrollee-cookwillhaveagoodmealreadyfortheboyswhen theycomeinfromtheday’swork.” 174 6 BasiclayoutofanRADcamp. 205 7 “ReturningfromtheConstructionSite.” 219 8 RADworkersonparadeduringaninspection. 222 9 LayoutofatypicalCCCcamp. 265 10 “InallCampsfifteenminutesof‘settingupexercises’are giventhefirstthinginthemorning.” 273 11 “AgroupofCCCboysplantheirevening’srecreationasthey changefromtheirworkclothesattheendoftheday.” 281 12 “Workinthemountains.” 309 ix x Charts and Illustrations 13 RADworkerlayingsewagepipe. 314 14 RADworkersreinforcinganembankment. 346 15 “Learningalotaboutstrip-cropping,terracing,andthe savingoffarmlandsfromwaste.” 366 16 “WorkingamidNature’sgrandeur.” 369