Editing Nazi Germany (section)

=== Wartime economy and forced labour ===
{{Further|Forced labour under German rule during World War II}}
{{See also|List of companies involved in the Holocaust}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2007-0074, IG-Farbenwerke Auschwitz.jpg|thumb|Woman with ''[[Ostarbeiter]]'' badge at the [[IG Farben]] plant in Auschwitz|alt=]]
The Nazi war economy was a [[mixed economy]] that combined a free market with central planning. Historian [[Richard Overy]] describes it as being somewhere in between the [[Economy of the Soviet Union|command economy of the Soviet Union]] and the [[Economy of the United States|capitalist system of the United States]].{{sfn|Overy|2006|p=252}}

In 1942, after the death of Armaments Minister [[Fritz Todt]], Hitler appointed Albert Speer as his replacement.{{sfn|Speer|1971|pp=263–264}} Wartime rationing of consumer goods led to an increase in personal savings, funds which were in turn lent to the government to support the war effort.{{sfn|Tooze|2006|pp=354–356}} By 1944, the war was consuming 75 per cent of Germany's [[gross domestic product]], compared to 60 per cent in the Soviet Union and 55 per cent in Britain.{{sfn|Evans|2008|p=333}} Speer improved production by centralising planning and control, reducing production of consumer goods, and [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|using forced labour and slavery]].{{sfn|Speer|1971|p=337}}{{sfn|Fest|1999|pp=142–144, 146–150}} The wartime economy eventually relied heavily upon the large-scale employment of [[slave labour]]. Germany imported and enslaved some 12&nbsp;million people from 20 European countries to work in factories and on farms. Approximately 75 per cent were Eastern European.{{sfn|Beyer & Schneider}} Many were casualties of Allied bombing, as they received poor air raid protection. Poor living conditions led to high rates of sickness, injury, and death, as well as sabotage and criminal activity.{{sfn|Panayi|2005|pp=490, 495}} The wartime economy also relied upon large-scale robbery, initially through the state seizing the property of Jewish citizens and later by plundering the resources of occupied territories.{{sfn|Hamblet|2008|pp=267–268}}

[[Foreign worker]]s brought into Germany were put into four classifications: guest workers, military internees, civilian workers, and Eastern workers. Each group was subject to different regulations. The Nazis issued a ban on sexual relations between Germans and foreign workers.{{sfn|Nazi forced labour|1942}}{{sfn|Special treatment|1942}}

By 1944, over a half million women served as auxiliaries in the German armed forces.{{sfn|USHMM, ''Women in the Third Reich''}} The number of women in paid employment only increased by 271,000 (1.8 per cent) from 1939 to 1944.{{sfn|Evans|2008|p=361}} As the production of consumer goods had been cut back, women left those industries for employment in the war economy. They also took jobs formerly held by men, especially on farms and in family-owned shops.{{sfn|Evans|2008|pp=358–359}}

Very heavy [[Strategic bombing during World War II|strategic bombing]] by the Allies [[Oil Campaign of World War II|targeted refineries producing synthetic oil and gasoline]], as well as the German transportation system, especially rail yards and canals.{{sfn|Davis|1995}} The armaments industry began to break down by September 1944. By November, fuel coal was no longer reaching its destinations and the production of new armaments was no longer possible.{{sfn|Speer|1971|pp=524–527}} Overy argues that the bombing strained the German war economy and forced it to divert up to one-fourth of its manpower and industry into anti-aircraft resources, which very likely shortened the war.{{sfn|Overy|2006|pp=128–130}}